RWBY Volume 4: Rise of the Grimm Lords
by Saric the Slayer
Summary: Ruby and her friends are on a journey to the Kingdom of Mistral in order to find some answers to their questions about what exactly happened at Beacon. Along the way Ruby encounters an old childhood friend of hers who joins her group and agrees to help them in their quest. While this is going on sinister forces are starting to emerge in Remnant in the form of two bizarre new Grimm.
1. Introduction

**Before I begin the actual story with the next chapter, I feel as though an explanation is necessary. This is a fan fiction of what I think could possibly happen in RWBY Volume 4. It may seem kind of pointless, since Volume 4 is only a few months away, but it's still fun to speculate and see what parts of it I get right. The idea for this fan fiction story actually came from a dream I once had about events of what would happen in RWBY Volume 4, and it was so interesting that I just had to turn it into a fan fiction and share it. The thing about my dreams is that I sometimes have very vivid and amazing lucid dreams that actually have stories in them, and sometimes if I'm lucky the stories from previous dreams will continue on in other dreams. Often times when I am really into a show, I might even dream up what happens next, such as the dream I had about what happens in RWBY Volume 4. These dreams often have some very interesting and amazing ideas in them that make for some great inspiration for fan fictions. Some of the events in the RWBY Volume 4 dream revealed some very interesting new story and lore elements for RWBY.**

 **Aside from the RWBY Volume 4 dream I had, I have had a few other RWBY related dreams, though most of them were just random, silly, and nonsensical, kind of like the stuff that happens in RWBY Chibi. A majority of my dreams are like that, though sometimes I'll get lucky and have serious dream with an actual story or plot in it. I have a dream journal that I keep where I write down all of the events of every interesting dream I've had, and I do it as soon as I wake up after a dream so that I can remember as much of it as possible, and then I go back to it later and read over it, and am often very surprised by what I read.**

 **On a side note, there are two other RWBY related dreams aside from the Volume 4 dream I had that stand out in particular. One is a weird crossover between RWBY and the anime/manga series Berserk, and although it was dark (Berserk is a dark series, which by default makes the dream dark), it had a bunch of random and nonsensical things in it that didn't make much sense. The one other serious RWBY related dream I've had that also had an actual story in it was one involving the past of Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, which reveals their backstories. The story about Ren and Nora's backstory seems like it would fit really well within the events of the Volume 4 story, so I will try to incorporate the events of Ren and Nora's past into this RWBY Volume 4 fan fiction somehow.**

 **Okay, well enough of my incoherent rambling, lets dive right into this story already. Before I begin, I feel as though there is something else worth mentioning. At the beginning of the RWBY Volume 4 dream, something interesting happened that leads right into the story. Before it started, there was a really epic opening for what would be Volume 4, with a new song and everything, and it sounded like something that would be an opening for RWBY, although I forgot the lyrics; they were mostly incoherent and hard to make out. Throughout the opening there is shown many images of the various characters of RWBY and it sort of gives some insights into what's going on their lives and in their minds. One image really stood out at the very end. It was a picture that looked like it was a photograph of Ruby and Yang as children, and standing inbetween them is another kid, a boy with silvery-white hair who looked to be about the same age as them. The three of them look happy together, and they are in sort of a group hug in the picture. Who the boy in the picture from their childhood is unknown at this point, but he is obviously very close to Ruby and Yang, and their connection will be revealed in the story. It then fades to white and the story begins.**


	2. Episode 1: A Friendly Reunion

**Well, here it is, the very first chapter of my RWBY Volume 4 fan fiction. I hope you all end up enjoying it for what it is. It might be turn to be somewhat short, but each chapter will packed full with a lot of exciting action, mysteries, and suspense. I'm not sure how long this fan fiction will go on for, considering that I have only thought of what happens up until a certain point, but it will be quite an interesting read and will probably serve as a good substitute until RWBY Volume 4 actually comes out in October.**

* * *

Under the starry night sky in the village of Patch many years ago, three children were lying in the grass and staring up at the moon. Two of these children were girls, Ruby and Yang, and with them was a childhood friend of theirs, a boy with silvery-white hair name Hans. The three of them looked up at the shattered moon with wonder and awe.

"Have you ever wondered how the moon got that way?" asked the child Yang. "Has it always been like that?"

"I heard it wasn't always like that." responded the boy Hans. "It used to look different."

"Did it really?" asked Yang in return. "What happened to it?"

"Who knows." said Hans. "I've heard so many different stories about it that I don't know which is real. There are as many stories in Remnant about how it got that way as there are stars in the night sky."

"I've also heard a story about it." said the child Ruby, chiming in. "It's one my mom used to tell me all the time. It goes something like this…"

* * *

The story now begins by picking up with Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora as they are travelling on the road in their journey to find answers. They are currently in the midst of discussing how they will soon be reaching the Kingdom of Mistral where their goal is.

"Mistral shouldn't be too far away now." said Ren. "A few more days and we'll have crossed the border into Mistral, and about a day or two after that we should be able to reach the city where Haven Academy is located. We'll begin our search for answers there."

"Even though it's only been a few months, what happened at Beacon still feels like it was only yesterday." said Ruby, sadly. "I've had plenty of time to process it all by now, but it still doesn't feel real to me."

"It's been hard for all of us to accept it." said Jaune. "Especially considering all the friends we've lost."

"How are you feeling though Jaune?" asked Ruby. "It must be especially hard on you, since you and Pyrrha were really close."

"I've mostly gotten over it by now." said Jaune, sounding very mellow. "If they say that there's five stages of grief that occur after you lose someone, then I'd say that right about now I'm at around the fifth stage: acceptance of loss. But the worst of it is has passed for me now. You should have seen me during the first few weeks after it happened. I was an emotional wreck. It all seems like a distant memory now, and it almost feels like it never even happened. I know I should never forget about what happened and all that we've lost, but it's also kind of a good thing, because it makes it easier for me to move on."

"That's good to hear." said Ruby, sounding relieved. "I kind of agree with you. We shouldn't forget about what happened, but we should still move on. We can't let the past distract us from our mission in the present. We have to keep moving forward, for the sake of the future."

"That's the spirit everyone!" said Nora, cheering them on and trying to motivate them. "The four of us together are the Fearsome Four! Once we set our minds to something, nothing can stop us!"

The group continued on down the road on their journey to Mistral, now filled with a renewed sense of hope and purpose. Ruby led them on, feeling as if a small weight had been lifted from her shoulders, knowing that everyone was now on their way to healing after their ordeal at Beacon. However, one thing still bothered her in the back of her mind. She couldn't help but wonder if Jaune had actually moved on from Pyrrha's death as easily as he had claimed, or if he was simply just bottling up his feelings and emotions so that they wouldn't show on the surface, all in an effort to to make himself look strong on the outside, when on the inside he was actually left feeling weak and vulnerable due to the loss of Pyrrha. Ruby knew from experience with the loss of her mother Summer Rose that this was never a good thing for anyone to do, and that it could end up causing more harm than good in the long run.

* * *

On a different part of the road leading into Mistral, a lone traveler walked along the snowy path. It was a teenage boy with silvery-white hair who was dressed head to toe in a black and grey outfit. On his back he carried a rather bizarre looking sword with an elaborate snake-like design around the hilt, and a guard shaped like a snake's mouth, from which a thin katana-like blade emerged. Lastly, engraved on the guard of the sword was a small black, skull-like crest or symbol. As the boy continued on down the road, he heard a rustling noise come from the forest at the side of the road. He immediately stopped and looked around, and as he did, three small Beowulf type Grimm emerged from the forest and surrounded him. The boy did not appear to be concerned, and just smirked slyly at the Grimm.

"Three on one?" said the boy. "That's not fair, for you. It doesn't matter anyway, your all still just weakling pups."

All three of the Grimm rushed him, and as they did, the boy quickly drew his sword, which then started to glow with the boy's aura. As it glowed, it began to move and bend in an almost fluid-like motion, as if the blade were like a liquid. The blade then extended and became longer, and almost as if it were alive, it started to move around like a snake and pierce through the Grimm one at a time and solidifying in the process. The blade stitched the Grimm together like a needle and thread, and as it did so, the blade continually turned at sharp angles to avoid the surrounding obstacles between the boy and the Grimm. Then, in the blink of an eye, all of the Grimm were quickly sliced up by the long snake-like blade of the sword that had pierced their bodies in several places. The boy now stood behind the Grimm, seemingly having done so with incredible speed after his weapon had paralyzed the Grimm and given him the opportunity to move.

The sword then started to retract and remove itself from the bodies of the slain Grimm, and it finally shrunk back down into its original thin, sword-like shape, which he then put back into its sheath. It was quite obvious to any who would have seen this display that this is was no ordinary weapon that this boy was wielding, being very different from the ones that a Huntsmen or Huntress would be seen wielding these days after constructing them. After all of the Grimm were dead, the boy just kept on walking as if nothing happened, disappointed by how easy he had killed the Grimm, however he suddenly stopped and put his hands on his face and started to shake with fear, as if he were remembering something terrible.

"No, why do I have to remember _"that"_ at a time like this." said the boy, sweating with fear. "Get out of my head you accursed Grimm!"

Although the three Grimm that the boy had fought were weak, they seemed to have triggered some sort of horrible and traumatic memory within the boy's mind. In this little episode the boy sliced a tree up into several pieces before it finally passed, and then he continued on walking down the road as if everything were back to normal again.

* * *

Returning to Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora, they continued to travel down the road until they reached a point where two roads met and combined into one that continued on further north. Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora stood at the end of the road on the left side, and on the right side they could see someone approaching from afar to the point where the two roads merged. They could see that it was teenage boy who looked to be about the same age as them, and he was dressed head to toe in a black and grey outfit, and was sporting silvery-white hair.

"Hello there fellow traveler." said Ruby, addressing the boy. "Is this road in front of us the one that leads into Mistral?"

The boy looked up towards Ruby and made eye contact with her. Upon seeing her face, something seemed to immediately spark within him upon seeing her, and he immediately drew his sword and charged towards her, as if possessed by a spirit of great anger and madness, similar to his previous episode with the three Grimm he had defeated earlier.

"It's you again!" the boy yelled in anger, directing his attention to Ruby specifically. "So you're at it again? You've found some more victims to lure to their death? What's next? When they're asleep you'll kill them and steal their essence?"

"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked confused, fighting off the boy in the process. "What's your deal? Are you some kind of crazy psychopath?"

"Don't play innocent demon, I know what you truly are!" the boy responded back. "You may have fooled these unsuspecting travelers, but you won't fool me!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Ruby, still perplexed. "Have we met somewhere before? Did I do something bad to you in the past? If I did, I'm sorry. I certainly didn't mean to."

Confused by what was going on, all Jaune, Ren, and Nora could do was watch, not sure what was happening, and debating within their minds whether then should intervene and help Ruby, or if they should just let the two fight it out, since it seemed like this fight was a personal one between Ruby and this mysterious stranger who seemingly knew her. Surprisingly, Ruby and the boy seemed to have almost equal speed, and somehow they were able to perfectly anticipate each others moves, almost as if by reflex and instinct. Another strange quality of the two fighters that was obvious to the onlookers was that the color schemes of their outfits as well as their hair colors and eye colors seemed to be almost the exact opposites of each other. This greatly contrasted the two warriors, with almost everything about their color schemes being inverted and reversed. They seemed like they were a matched pair, being mirrored versions of each other. Ruby and the boy then stopped, as if they both suddenly came to a realization as to who the other person was.

"Wait a minute, I think I do know you." said Ruby, stopping in dead silence and shock. "Hans, is that you?" Upon realizing who Ruby was, the boy immediately dropped his weapon in shock.

"Oh my... Ruby, is that really you?" asked the boy, now horrified at his actions.

"It really is you Hans!" said Ruby, now sounding somewhat cheerful. "What, you didn't recognize me?"

"Ruby, I'm so sorry." said the boy, now apologizing sincerely. "I didn't realize it was you at first. I thought you were someone else."

"Well I'm glad to see you too." said Ruby, playfully. "Seriously, we don't see each other for almost a year, and this is how you greet me after all that time?"

"I never thought I'd end up coming across you in a place like this." said Hans. "What are you doing all the way out here anyway?"

"Oh nothing." said Ruby, now smiling. "Just on a little adventure."

"An adventure!? What sort of adventure!?" asked Hans, now sounding excited, as his personality now changed to something akin that of a cheery and fun loving child, which was an extremely jarring change from his previous serious persona. With this change, the boy seemed much less frightening, and it now became very hard to take him seriously as the threat he had previously been about a minute ago.

"Ah, I see now." said Ren, finally pitching in. "So this was all some sort of big misunderstanding over a case of mistaken identity? Am I right?"

"Well yes, I guess you're right." said Hans, feeling himself shrinking away in embarrassment.

"Who else could I be Hans?" asked Ruby. "Did you mistake me for someone else that did something bad to you?"

"Don't worry about it." said Hans, now feeling thoroughly embarrassed after making such a fool of himself by attacking the wrong person, especially considering that the person he had attacked was someone he knew personally and had not seen in a long time. "It's a long story."

"You're still the same Hans I remember." said Ruby. "You never change. Always jumping into situations without even thinking." Almost bursting to tears, Ruby was suddenly overjoyed and tackled Hans to the ground with a hug, a move which Jaune, Ren and Nora were greatly surprised and confused by.

"It's been so long Hans!" said Ruby. "I have so much to tell you. So much has changed since the last time we last saw each other."

"Wait a minute, what's going on here?" asked Jaune, confused. "Ruby, do you know this guy?"

"Know him?" said Ruby. "I could never forget Hans. We've known each other since we were kids. The two of us along with Yang grew up together in Patch."

"So he's a childhood friend?" said Jaune. "I guess it was luck then that you two crossed paths here."

"Allow me to introduce myself." said Hans, now getting up and politely bowing to Ruby's friends. "My name is Hans Quicksilver. I was a student of Beacon Academy like all of you were. I've never met you guys before, but you might have heard about me from some of the other students at Beacon. I was part of Team HURT."

"Ah, I remember them." said Ren. "That's Ursula's team right?"

"Yes, well it was..." said Hans, now looking sad. "You probably already know this by now, but we lost some good students on the day that the Grimm attacked Beacon. My team was one of those casualties. I'm all that's left of my team. It's just me now."

Everyone stood there in shock and awe, surprised that they were only now finding out about the deaths of Hans' team members, some of which they at even met and known personally at Beacon.

"How is it that we never heard about this until now?" asked Ruby, shocked.

"It happened when we were away from the academy." said Hans, with a sad look on his face. "When we heard the news of what happened, we immediately rushed back as fast as we could to help out when all the teams that were away were called back. Right before we were about to reach Beacon, we ran into a horde of Grimm. I was the only one that made it out alive. I was knocked unconscious during the battle. The Grimm must have thought I was dead and moved on. When I came to, I made my way to Beacon, but it was completely in ruins by then. I was too late to do anything, so I just went home. Since then I've been taking on random odd jobs around Vale helping to clear out the Grimm from some of the areas they have infested, but it was all pretty pointless because they would always just come back not long afterwards."

"That's terrible." said Ruby. "We've also had it rough after what happened at Beacon."

"While we're on the subject of Beacon, would you guys mind filling me in on what exactly happened there?" asked Hans. "I wasn't there when things went south, so there's still a lot that I don't know. I'll fill you all in on what I know and what I've heard on my end. Every little bit of information that we can share with each other will help."

"Alright then, we'll exchange war stories." said Nora, somewhat jokingly.

"First of all, where did that _"thing"_ that's frozen on top of the school come from?" asked Hans. "Secondly, are any of the teachers still around? Also, where's Yang? Is she okay too?"

"Yeah, about all that." said Ruby. "You might want to sit down somewhere. This is probably going to take a while."

* * *

 **I'm thinking that Hans should either be based on the fairy tale character of Hansel from Hansel and Gretel, or Johnny Appleseed, or perhaps he could even be based on the woodsman from Little Red Riding hood. As for the color meaning behind Hans' name, it's a little more obscure and harder to see than it is for other characters in the series. The name Hans originally comes from German and other northern European languages, but the name itself could also be a word that means something in other languages as well. In Hindi, Hans could also be a name (though it's pronounced very differently), and it means swan. The feathers of swans are usually a pure white color, which goes well with Hans' white and grey color scheme, which contrasts Ruby's own red and black color scheme. With this, it has now been revealed that Hans is the boy who was in Ruby and Yang's flashback, and that he is the boy in picture at the end of the hypothetical opening.**


	3. Episode 2: The Fearsome Five

**The first part of this chapter will start off a little differently, serving to providing somewhat of an exposition or narration about the past of Hans, and it will also elaborate more upon the relationship that he has with Ruby and Yang.**

* * *

When they were children, Ruby, Yang, and Hans had grown up together in the same village on the island of Patch, and were very close throughout their childhoods. Hans had no siblings of his own, and so Ruby and Yang had been like sisters to him, becoming his unofficial siblings. Hans lived in Patch with only his mother Mira Quicksilver, and his father had died many years before, and as such his situation was somewhat similar to Ruby's, although reversed, as she had a father but her mother was deceased. Hans' mother Mira and Ruby's father Taiyang were also close friends who had known each other for many years, and the two of them often supported each other emotionally. Ruby, Yang, and Hans had often wondered if something more would eventually form between Taiyang and Mira, and the three of them tried many times to see if they could get their single parents together romantically, thereby making the three of them actual siblings, though to no avail.

Even though the two seemed like they would be a perfect match for each other, Taiyang had completely shut himself off emotionally and was afraid to love again after the two great heartbreaks of his life. The first was when his first love Raven had abandoned him and left his daughter Yang as baby on his doorstep one day, and the second was when his next love Summer Rose had died during a mission. Taiyang didn't want to try to love anymore because he was afraid of being hurt again, and so the feelings between Taiyang and Mira remained unresolved.

Nevertheless, Ruby, Yang, and Hans continued to grow closer as they grew up, and they often played together, acting out their fantasies. As the three grew up, they began to dream of becoming Hunters, and so the three of them began to attend Signal Academy on Patch and started to train together to hone their skills so that they could achieve their dream. As the three grew more skilled, they eventually made their own weapons, having helped each other in the process of building them. Even though all the students at Signal were required to eventually create their own weapons, Hans however did not create a weapon of his own and instead used his mother's sword that she had passed down him. This substitute for a self-created weapon that Hans used was a rather strange looking sword named as Kusanagi, also known by some as the Steel Serpent. It was somewhat like the weapon Crocea Mors belonging to Jaune Arc, in that it was just a seemingly ordinary looking melee weapon without any type of gun modifications. What wasn't immediately obvious to most was that Kusanagi had a strange and peculiar ability, one in which the length of the blade could change and become flexible so that it could be moved around, almost as if it had a will of its own, hence it's nickname of the Steel Serpent.

Due to this ability, Kusanagi could move and position itself at certain angles, which would allow it to maneuver around obstacles towards its targets, and even sometimes strike around opponents who attempted to block it with a weapon or shield by attacking them from the side. The blade itself could also sometimes be coated with a mild poison that the weapon was somehow able to produce on its own, making it seem even more like a living serpent, which made its nickname all the more fitting. When it was not in use, the sword took on the shape of a normal sword with a thin katana-like blade, but it could also become flexible and be wrapped around its wielder's body for easier carrying. Finally, Kusanagi also had a last resort defensive mechanism in which the blade could widen itself into a thin metal-like sheet that would wrap itself around the wielder's torso area, in an effort to minimize, but not completely eliminate, any damage that would occur to that area of the body. With these strange abilities, it was very obvious to most that Kusanagi was no ordinary weapon, though where Hans' mother Mira had found such a weapon in the first place was a mystery in and of itself.

The time of their childhood came to an end for Ruby, Yang, and Hans when they decided that they would all go to Beacon Academy together, as they neared the end of their days at Signal Academy. However, they wouldn't all be able to go at the same time, as they were not all the same age. Yang was the oldest, and as such was the first who would be eligible to go, being at the normal age for entry into Beacon Academy. Hans and Ruby however were a different case. Yang would be 16 years old upon entering Beacon, while Hans would be 15, and Ruby would only be 14. Ruby and Hans, due to being very gifted and having excelled at Signal Academy, and also both of their parents being teachers there, had often been moved ahead in the curriculum, and as a result they were ahead of the other students by a few years. Hans had been moved ahead by one year, while Ruby had been moved ahead by two years. It was a virtual guarantee that Yang would be able to go to Beacon, and there was a high possibility that Hans would be able to go as well, as it was not uncommon for some students to be able to enter into Beacon a year early, but a student entering into Beacon two years early like Ruby would was almost unheard of. Ruby's dream of being able to go to Beacon Academy together with Yang and Hans and become a Huntress with them seemed almost impossible now, but that was until the day that by luck she had met the headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin, who then gave her an invitation to apply anyway, despite her age.

Ruby was finally able to attend Beacon like she had dreamed of, and once there she was assigned to her own team, Team RWBY. During his time at Beacon, Hans had also been assigned to his own team, known as Team HURT, and they were often sent out on missions away from the school. Ruby and Yang were not able to see Hans as much after they entered Beacon together with him. The two often had different classes and schedules than he did, and they were also often sent out on separate missions. Despite all of this, the three of them still kept in close contact with each other. Hans became almost like a secret pen pal to Ruby and Yang that they didn't tell their teammates about, and they would often send letters to each other through the mail as well as talk to each other on their Scrolls whenever they had the time. The three had finally achieved their goal, and from here on out the story that most are all familiar with began.

* * *

Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora had just now finished recounting to Hans the events that had occurred at Beacon on the day it fell to the Grimm, and in return Hans had told them everything he knew and had heard through the grapevine while he had been out on his various missions to push back the Grimm throughout Vale after the Grimm invasion of Beacon. Afterwards Jaune, Ren, and Nora formally introduced themselves to Hans, and they each got to know him better, sharing in common that they were fellow students of Beacon like he was.

"So these are the friends that you've told me so much about Ruby?" said Hans. "I've actually met Ren before once or twice, though very briefly, through my teammate Ursula, but this is my first time actually meeting Jaune and Nora. I'm glad to have gotten to know you three better."

"Pleased to meet you too." said Nora, gripping Hans' hand tightly and proceeding violently shake it a few times.

"I also look forward to meeting your other teammates too Ruby." said Hans. "It's too bad what happened to Yang, but I'm wondering what that princess girl Weiss is like, or who that fox girl Faunus Blake is."

"She's a cat Faunus." said Ruby, correcting him.

"Ah yes, my bad." said Hans. Suddenly, Hans' face began to light up, as if he suddenly remembered something. "Wait a minute, she's a cat Faunus you say?"

"Yeah." said Ruby. "What of it?"

"I just remembered something." said Hans. "I think I actually might have met her once before when I was out on a scouting mission to the ruins of Beacon. She has long black hair and cat ears on her head, and she also has a sword with cord attached to the handle right?"

"What!?" exclaimed Ruby. "That's her! Where did you see her!?"

"It was a few months ago." said Hans. "I've actually come across her more than once while out on my Grimm extermination missions. She also seems to be trying to push back the Grimm like we were, though she appears to be trying to go at it alone. I offered her an opportunity to join us and help out in our missions, but she refused. The way she carries herself, she seems as though she's carrying some sort of heavy burden on her shoulders, as if she feels that this is something that she has to do by herself."

"It must be because she feels guilty about what happened to Yang." said Ruby, sadly.

"I guess that makes sense." said Hans. "In the few conversations I've had with her, I got the feeling that there was either something or someone that she was running away from and couldn't face. She told me that because of her, a close friend of hers had gotten hurt, and she felt as though she was to blame for it. She didn't want her friends to get dragged into any of her problems anymore and get hurt because of it, so that's why she ran off to try and fix things on her own. The last thing I remember her telling me was that she's looking for some group of Faunus extremists known as the White Fang led by a guy named Adam Taurus. She wants to settle things with him personally without any of her friends getting involved, and only then will she finally be able to return to her friends and face them without feeling ashamed."

"So that's how it is." said Ruby, sounding somewhat relived. "I'm kind of glad to hear that. Now I know that Blake didn't just abandon us. She left for a good reason, and she feels as if this is a problem that she has to solve on her own. She didn't do this out of selfishness, she did it because she wants to protect us from being hurt again because of something she believes shouldn't involve her friends She just doesn't understand though that this isn't just her fight. It involves all of us because of what happened and how it has affected us."

"I want to help you guys out." said Hans, thinking for a moment and then finally speaking. "What happened at Beacon has had ripple effects that have affected all of us here. As a fellow Beacon student, I feel as though I should be doing something to help fix things like you are, by helping you to search for the root of the problem in Mistral. I feel as though I've accomplished almost nothing in these past few months that I've been trying to clear out all of the Grimm from infested areas, only to have them come back soon afterwards. That day at Beacon has also left its scars on me as well. I want to help make things right too. I owe it to my team members that aren't here anymore to at least do that much."

"Welcome aboard then Hans." said Ruby, smiling. "We're glad to have you helping us out. This should make things easier for us now that it's five of us."

"You know what they say, the more the merrier." said Nora. "But now we can't call ourselves the Fearsome Four anymore. We'll have to think of something else now. Maybe something like... the Fearsome Five! Yeah, that's it!"

"Nora, all you did was change one word in the name." said Ren, with a face palm.

"You know, I feel much better about this whole journey now that we've got a fifth party member to help us out." said Jaune. "Especially if they're one of the more experienced students from Beacon."

"Alright everyone, onward to Mistral!" said Nora, holding up her hammer and pointing it in the direction of the road leading to Mistral.

"To Mistral it is then." said Hans, smiling and also drawing his sword and pointing in the direction of their destination, humoring Nora by doing so.

"Hans, you're still using that old thing?" said Ruby, pointing out Hans' sword, which up until now she had not really focused much on, as her mind had been preoccupied during her earlier battle with Hans. "I thought that by now you would have made your own weapon."

"What can I say?" said Hans shrugging. "I've become rather attached to this sword. I really like it."

"That thing is an antique." said Ruby. "The modern weapons of today will work much better for you in a battle than a relic like that."

"Maybe that's the reason I like it so much." said Hans. "It has a nice charm to it with how old and mysterious it is. There's just something about hand me downs like this that appeals to me. I guess I'm just old fashioned like that."

"There's nothing to be ashamed of about hand me downs." said Jaune. "My sword Crocea Mors has been handed down throughout my family for generations. My great-great grandfather fought with it in the Great War."

"That's interesting to hear." said Hans. "As for this weapon, my mom told me that she found this sword stuck into the side of really big Grimm she had killed one day while out on a mission. She took it back home with her as a trophy and has kept it ever since then, until she gave it to me. Who knows how it got stuck in that Grimm in the first place? Maybe the Grimm killed the previous wielder, or maybe the Grimm just ran off with the sword still stuck in it after it was attacked by whoever had it before. I did some digging around through some old texts and documents to try and trace the sword's line of ownership, but all I was really able to find out was that this sword's name is Kusanagi."

Jaune then also drew his sword out like Hans, and proudly showed it to everyone, feeling confident now that he has found a kindred spirit in Hans, who views his weapon in the same way that he views his. Hans took a closer look at Crocea Mors and noticed something peculiar. On the guard of the sword was engraved a small black, skull-like crest.

"Hey Jaune, what's that?" asked Hans, pointing out the black skull-like crest on the guard of Jaune's sword.

"Oh that?" said Jaune. "That's always been there."

"It seems our weapons do have something in common after all." said Hans, pulling out his sword Kusanagi and pointing out the same small black, skull-like crest engraved onto the guard of his sword as well.

"Whoa, that's so weird." said Ruby. "What could this mean? Is this a sign or an omen?"

"It means our weapons were forged by the same person." said Hans. "This is so strange. I never thought I'd ever come across another one. I thought they were all just rumors and stories..."

"What rumors and stories?" asked Jaune.

"Well, to put it simply Jaune, there are quite possibly several other weapons like ours out there in the world." said Hans. "During my research into Kusanagi's origins, I came across some pretty interesting tidbits of information about where this weapon supposedly originated from."

"Oh, a mystery?" said Ruby, her eyes lighting up. "Tell us what you found Hans. This sounds like it could be exciting."

"Well, legend has it that many centuries ago, there was a famous and very renowned blacksmith and Huntress who forged twelve legendary weapons in her lifetime." said Hans. "They were said to be the greatest and most magnificent creations she had ever forged. These twelve weapons were all created and designed for the sole purpose of being able to kill Grimm. On each of these legendary weapons that she forged, she left her mark of craftsmanship, which is this small black skull shaped crest that you see here on the guard. Supposedly it's one of the ways you can tell them apart from just plain, old regular weapons to know if they're the real deal or not. I didn't think they actually still existed though. I thought Kusanagi, also known by its nickname of The Steel Serpent, was the only one left in Remnant. For a long time, I wasn't even sure if they even were real at all, and I thought they were all just a story some merchants had made up to help boost the sales of their weapons."

"So my sword is special somehow?" asked Jaune. "That's pretty neat."

"It's not just that." said Hans. "Do you know just what it is that apparently makes them all so special and so good at killing the Grimm in the first place?"

"No. What is it?" asked Jaune, now intrigued.

"Supposedly, all twelve of these weapons were forged from the pieces of twelve unusual and extraordinarily powerful Grimm, which were taken from these Grimm while they were still alive." said Hans. "I'm not really sure how true that part of the story is, or if it's just a rumor, but I sometimes wonder myself, since my sword seems to almost have a mind of its own sometimes."

"That's just crazy!" exclaimed Ruby. "But also really creepy and disturbing."

"Why go that far to do something like that though?" asked Jaune.

"I'll show you." said Hans. Hans took his sword Kusanagi and held it next to Crocea Mors, and as the two weapons came within inches of each other, they began to shake and glow with a faint hazy red aura.

"So they are alive after all!" shouted Ruby, now shocked.

"In a way, yes they are alive." said Hans. "The residual energy of the Grimm they were made from is what's causing them to resonate with each other like this. Their former malice must still be buried somewhere deep within the weapons, and when they come within close proximity like this, they can somewhat recognize each other's presence. They say the power of the Grimm that they were made from imbues the weapons with special qualities and powers. It's also said that if you have a really strong aura and train it well that you can unlock the hidden powers and potential of each weapon. I've trained my aura a lot because of this, and have started to unlock some of Kusanagi's powers, but so far all it seems to be able to do is just stretch and move around like a snake. I guess not all the weapons have the same powers. Some are probably much cooler than others."

"I wonder what mine can do?" asked Jaune, now sounding excited. "I've already got a strong aura, so maybe I can unlock my sword's true power if I train it hard enough? My great-great grandfather was said to be able to do some crazy things with this weapon in the Great War. Most of my family never really believed in any of the war stories about him though, seeing as how Crocea Mors looks like it couldn't hurt a fly."

"You've got a good weapon with you Jaune." said Hans. "If you train yourself to control that immense aura of yours properly, who knows what you will be able to do. You'll be an unstoppable force in battle. Believe in your sword, and it will protect you."

Jaune sheathed his sword and held it close to him, now having a new found respect and appreciation for the weapon he had once seen as weak and insignificant. The group of Ruby, Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Hans then once again continued on their way down the road, resuming their journey to Mistral.

* * *

 **Well, there you have it. The past of Ruby and Hans has been revealed. I wonder if Hans could eventually end up being a potential love interest for Ruby. They both sort of have that whole childhood friends thing going on that you often see with many characters in a lot of cartoons, anime, and manga.**


	4. World of Remnant: Legendary Weapons

**Here's something that's a little different. Think of this as sort of a small little bonus episode, like those World of Remnant episodes we sometimes got inbetween certain episodes of RWBY. Whenever a new lore element is introduced into the story, I'll do one of these short World of Remnant episode segments to go along with it.**

 **This way I can make things much less confusing when new lore elements are introduced into the story, without having to have the characters within the story themselves drop a massive info dump during their conversations with each other, which could potentially break the flow of the story.**

 **The characters will give a more simplified version of the explanation of the new lore element that is introduced within the story, and then the World of Remnant episodes that follow will explain these new lore elements in greater detail and further elaborate upon them.**

* * *

Throughout Remnant's history, there have been many tales of great warriors and heroes and the many great deeds and feats they have accomplished. Alongside these tales, equally great were tales of the trusty weapons that these warriors and heroes wielded at their sides in battle. Among the tales of these weapons, there are twelve in particular that are worthy of special mention. Numbering twelve in total, these special weapons are known as the Twelve Legendary Weapons of Remnant. Created many centuries ago by the famous blacksmith and Huntress Hephaestia Nikos, the Twelve Legendary Weapons of Remnant were forged specifically for the purpose of slaying and defeating the Creatures of Grimm. The weapons did their job very well and fulfilled their purpose as intended, and as a result they become feared among the Grimm all throughout Remnant.

These twelve weapons were known to possess extraordinary mystical powers, almost bordering on the realm of magic. It was also said that a warrior who properly trained their aura could potentially be able to unlock the true powers and abilities hidden within these weapons. The powers of the weapons could range from amplifying the wielder's aura and strengthening their Semblance, to being able to control and manipulate the elements of nature, to even possessing unique attacks of their own that seemed as though the weapons themselves possessed a Semblance. Whatever their abilities were, the weapons were truly magnificent creations, and the warriors who wielded them often went on to become famous and renowned figures throughout Remnant's history. It is even said that depending on which weapon was used, a warrior with a powerful enough aura wielding one of these weapons in battle after unlocking its full power could potentially even rival the power of one of the Four Maidens of the Seasons.

What many people may not know however is what exactly it is that makes these weapons so special and so effective at killing the Grimm. Unbeknownst to most, the true source of the power of the Twelve Legendary Weapons of Remnant lies in the secret of what they were created from. A secret known only to some is that the weapons were actually created and forged from the pieces of certain Grimm that their creator Hephaestia Nikos had defeated in battle. During her lifetime, Hephaestia had defeated and slain twelve extraordinarily powerful Grimm that stood out as being very unusual among their species. Each of the pieces used to create these weapons had been extracted from the Grimm while they were still alive in order to prevent them from disappearing and becoming unusable, which was an extremely brutal and difficult process for her to accomplish. It paid off however and the power from the pieces of the Grimm that they were created from were imbued into the weapons, giving them their extraordinary powers and abilities. The Grimm that they were created from also transferred some of their own unique qualities and traits onto the weapons themselves, and as a result it was almost as though the Grimm were still somewhat alive within the weapons, although very faintly.

Due to their unique nature, each of the twelve weapons could only exist as one specific type of weapon, and it was impossible for them to be modified to fire projectiles such as bullets like many of the modern weapons that can be found in Remnant today. The first of the twelve weapons that Hephaestia had created was the most simple, being the sword Crocea Mors, which she had created from a sharp spike taken from the back of an Ursa type Grimm of gargantuan proportions. Although she would eventually go on to make other weapons that would in time surpass it, Crocea Mors remained Hephaestia's favorite weapon to use out of the twelve she had created. The next weapon that she created was even more versatile than the first, being the sword Kusanagi, which had been created from the spine of a massive King Taijitu Grimm, giving the weapon its snake-like qualities and allowing it to be used as both a sword and a sharp whip, as well as giving it its ability to create a mild poison.

As the centuries passed by, the Twelve Legendary Weapons of Remnant gradually fell into the realm of myth and legend, and eventually they were lost to history altogether, becoming scattered all across the world of Remnant. Rumors of their existence still persisted however and would sometimes crop up every now and then, and as a result many people often tried to locate and collect these weapons for themselves, but to no avail. By this point, nobody was even sure what the weapons looked like anymore, and they had no way of knowing which the genuine articles were. The only distinguishing feature that these weapons were known to have that could identify them for certain now was the small black skull-like crest that Hephaestia Nikos had engraved onto each of the twelve weapons as the mark of her craftsmanship.

Recently, there has been one rumor of note that has popped up within the Kingdom of Atlas. Rumor has it that within the Schnee Family Museum is what could possibly be one of the twelve legendary weapons; a magical summoning wand of great power known as the Walpurgisnacht Wand. Being one of the more unique ones out of the twelve weapons that Hephaestia had created, this wand was said to have been created from the horn of a large black, unicorn-like Grimm, imbuing it with the ability to cast magical spells and summon powerful creatures to aid the wielder in battle.

* * *

 **This was quite an interesting bit of new RWBY lore I've created. Consider this little section down here to be something akin to author's notes and commentary. To tell you the truth, at this point I've only really thought of and fleshed out in my head about half of the twelve legendary weapons, and I'm having trouble coming up with what the others would be like. I'm thinking of having all of the Twelve Legendary Weapons of Remnant be named after actual weapons and from history, mythology, religion, folklore, and fairy tales from the real world, with perhaps a few exceptions, and having them all follow this theme, considering that Jaune's sword Crocea Mors is named after the sword of Julius Caesar. Having them named after real life legendary weapons kind of makes them feel more legendary to me. Almost everything about the weapons will in some way be a reference back to their real life counterparts, and some of these facts could be taken as clues as to what their abilities could be.**

 **Hans' weapon Kusanagi for example is based on the legendary sword Kusanagi from Japanese mythology, which was found within the body of an eight headed snake. This fits with Kusanagi's snake-like abilities and qualities, and how it was created from a King Taijitu, and how Hans' mother Mira found it within a Grimm she had killed. Jaune's sword Crocea Mors means "yellow death" in Latin, so there's a possible hint to what its abilities might be when it's used properly. Another interesting fact about the real life Crocea Mors is that it had gotten stuck in a shield, and the way Jaune sheaths it is by putting it into his folded up shield is probably a reference to this. As for the Walpurgisnacht Wand, that is named after the holiday of Walpurgisnacht, which is celebrated in many of the Germanic countries of northern Europe, where it is believed to be a night of magic and when witches are said to gather, as well as marking the coming of Spring.**

 **You may have noticed it and yes, Hephaestia Nikos is connected to the Pyrrha Nikos we know. Hephaestia is Pyrrha's ancestor from the distant past, descended from Hephaestia's son that she later had. Like Pyrrha she is also named after a figure from Greek mythology, Hephaestia being named after the god Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods of Olympus. There is an ironic twist with both Hephaestia and Pyrrha in which both of them were pseudo-Maidens. Pyrrha was supposed to have become the Fall Maiden, but ended up having it stolen away from her and having to fight the actual Fall Maiden instead, who she put up a decent fight against. Hephaestia with her immense aura and the twelve weapons she created had the power and strength to be able to rival the power of one of the Four Maidens and possibly fight on equal grounds with one of them. Finally, there is one final piece of sweet irony involving Pyrrha. Since Jaune's sword Crocea Mors was originally forged by Hephaestia, who Pyrrha is descended from and shares many similarities with, it could be said that in a way Jaune still carries a part of Pyrrha with him in the form of his sword, which is the weapon Hephaestia had been the most fond of. This makes Hans' words to Jaune about always trusting in his sword and it always protecting him all the more emotional and impactful, because Pyrrha is still there with Jaune in spirit protecting him.**


	5. Episode 3: Night Terrors

**It seems the reception for this story so far has been pretty good, so I'll try to keep adding more chapters to it as I feel motivated to do so. This chapter is where things should really start getting interesting in the story.**

* * *

It was now night time in the land of Mistral, and the group of Ruby, Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Hans were now camped out under a cluster of trees in the forest, and they were all fast asleep. Ruby found herself awakened for some odd reason in the middle of the night, and after trying for a while, she could not seem to go back to sleep. Now bored and looking around for something to do, she see looked around and found that everyone else was still asleep. One thing seemed to catch her attention though, and she noticed that something strange seemed to be going on with Hans as he was sleeping. He was shaking in his sleep, almost as if he were having a terrible nightmare, and he seemed almost as though he were crying. From the looks of it, it would appear that Hans was suffering from some sort of deep trauma akin to PTSD, which Hans had kept hidden while he was awake, but now it was manifesting itself as he slept. Upon seeing this, Ruby felt horrified and confused, never having seen Hans act in this way. Even though she didn't say anything about it earlier, Ruby had suspected that there was probably something more to Hans' story of what happened to him on the night that Beacon fell that he had not told her about, and this only seemed to conform her suspicions.

"What's happening to you Hans?" said Ruby, speaking quietly to herself. "This isn't the same happy and cheery person I grew up with. Something has changed. Why have you never told me about this? What are you hiding? You know you can talk to me about anything and I'll listen. Just what exactly happened to you on the night that Beacon fell?"

Ruby grabbed Hans' hand and held it as he slept, noting how cold it felt. The action seemed to help somewhat, and Hans stopped shaking, as though he subconsciously recognized the familiar sensation, and it eased his pain. Ruby now felt alone and helpless, feeling as though she could not do anything to help all of those around her who had been deeply hurt by their tragic experiences at Beacon. Not only had it been Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Nora, who had been affected, but her childhood friend Hans had also been affected as well.

* * *

As Hans dreamed, he remembered and relived the events that happened to him on the night that Beacon fell to the Grimm. He and his team were out on a mission away from Beacon when they had received the news that it was under attack, and that all the teams that were away on missions were to return immediately and help to fight off the Grimm. Hans' team, all wearing their signature Team HURT insignia of a red bleeding heart on their uniforms, consisted of himself and his teammates Ursula, Reed, and Terra, who were now rushing through the forest and trying to make their way back to Beacon as fast as they could.

"Aw man, first we miss out on front room seats to the Vytal Festival and have to watch the show remotely, and now something like this happens?" said Reed.

"How could this happen?" asked Terra. "Beacon coming under attack? This is unreal."

"The security at the event should have been top notch." said Hans. "Something must be up. I've got a really bad feeling about this, like something's not right."

"Hurry, we'll make a turn here and take a shortcut through this village." said Ursula. "I know this area very well, so after passing through this village it should be a straight shot through the forest behind it, and we'll be right at Beacon within minutes."

As the group entered the village, they found it unusually quiet and deserted, and the whole place looked as though a tornado had passed through it.

"What happened here?" asked Ursula, with a look of horror. "My hometown, it's completely in ruins. Did the Grimm do this on their way to Beacon?" They then heard a scream echoing from the woods.

"Be on your guard." said Hans. "Whatever did this might still be here." Everyone drew their weapons and got ready for battle. Then, a little girl came running out of the woods straight towards them.

"What happened here little girl?" asked Ursula, as the girl stopped next to them.

"They killed and ate everyone one." said the little girl, crying hysterically and appearing as though she were about to die from shock. "They appeared out of nowhere. It all happened so fast. My daddy held them off so I could escape, but they ate him too. It was the shadow man. He called them and commanded them. He hides in the trees and watches."

"Shadow man?" asked Hans. "What could she mean? Is it a Grimm? That doesn't sound like any Grimm I've ever heard of."

"Get yourself out of here." Ursula said to the little girl. "We'll go check it out." Not even thinking twice and not wanting to stick around, the girl heeded Ursula's words and immediately bolted off in the opposite direction, getting as far away from the village as possible.

Suddenly, a horde of Grimm came rushing out of the forest and ran straight towards Hans and his team. Before they could blink, the group was swarmed and overwhelmed as they desperately tried to fight back.

"There's too many of them for us to handle." said Hans. "We have to get out of here and reach a place where we can fight them off a few at a time."

The group started to run away, but the gap between them and the Grimm began to rapidly close, and only Hans and Ursula were able to make it through, while Reed and Terra were unable to make it in time and were cut down and killed by the Grimm.

"Reed, Terra!" yelled Hans, shocked at the sudden deaths of his two teammates.

"We have to keep moving!" said Ursula. "It's too late for them now, but not for us. If we can make it back to Beacon, we can get help."

Hans and Ursula continued on, desperately running through the forest to escape the massive horde of Grimm following behind them. As they were running, Hans could see in the very corner of his eye that a black shadowy figure was jumping from tree to tree and following them, though it was too far away for him to be able to clearly make out what it was, but it looked humanoid in shape. Right as they turned a corner, a large Grimm jumped out and bit right into Ursula's side with its powerful jaws, gravely injuring her. Hans immediately killed the Grimm and grabbed Ursula before she fell to the ground. Hans held her in his arms as she was bleeding out from her massive injuries.

"It's too late for me Hans." said Ursula, coughing up blood. "This is it for me. You must get to Beacon and warn everyone about what has happened here. You must live on..."

With that, the life left Ursula's body and she died in his arms. Wiping away the tears, Hans laid her body down and left, continuing to run through the forest. He could see a light at the end, signifying the exit to the forest, but right before he could reach it, he was cut off in his tracks by the horde of Grimm, who blocked his path.

"Son of a..." said Hans. They were all the way back there behind me. They must have come around from the side to reach me here. How did they know to do that? Grimm aren't supposed to be this smart. Is that shadow man the one doing this?"

Hans drew his weapon, prepared to fight his way through and make it to Beacon no matter what. As he prepared to charge, all the Grimm suddenly did something very uncharacteristic. They all started to move away and formed two side by side rows, as if they were making a path for someone behind them to walk through. Hans' hands began to shake with fear as it held his sword, dreading what it was that he was about to see walk out from behind all the Grimm. What happened next was possibly one of the most bizarre and terrifying things Hans had ever witnessed. Out from the behind the lines of Grimm walked a dark humanoid figure, and as it approached its shape started to become more solid and visible, almost as if it were morphing into something as it left the shadows. What stood before Hans now was the figure of an adult woman with red hair, and dressed head to toe in a flowing red cloak and battle attire. Standing there now was a woman that seemed to greatly resemble Hans' childhood friend Ruby Rose. As she approached, a shadowy sword-like weapon began to form in her hands. Hans' eyes widened with shock and disbelief, and the woman charged towards him with her weapon in hand, and the two began to fight.

"How is this possible?" said Hans in shock, doing his best to defend against the woman's attacks with his sword Kusanagi.

"How is what possible?" said the woman in a sweet and innocent sounding voice. "Is this your first time fighting a woman this strong?"

"No, it can't be!" said Hans, now feeling sense of terror beginning to take hold of him. "There's no way you can be alive. You can't be her. She's been dead for a long time. I was there with Ruby the day we received the news that you died. They barely found anything left of her, but she's definitely dead. You can't be Summer Rose! Just who or what are you!?" The woman resembling Summer Rose then looked at Hans and smiled evilly.

"Ah, so you recognize this corpse?" replied a cold and inhumane voice that now came from the woman, replacing sweet and innocent one that she had used before. "I guess I've been found out."

"Corpse?" asked Hans, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"This one here is one of my favorite puppets to use in battle." said the woman resembling Summer Rose. "You're right, she is dead. I killed her myself many years ago. I greatly enjoyed killing her and stealing her appearance and powers so that I could add them to my _"collection"_."

"You monster!" yelled Hans. "What kind of creature are you?"

Hans charged at the woman and the Grimm swarmed and attacked him, almost as if the woman had mentally commanded them to do so. As he fought them, Hans began to panic, as he could feel the Grim growing stronger and stronger, and he somehow grew weaker.

"That won't do you any good now will it?" said the woman. "Don't you know that the more negative emotions and energies that you let off, the stronger it makes us Grimm? All it serves to do is feed our power while sapping yours in return, especially when it's someone as powerful as me. Your despair invigorates me." The Grimm then pinned Hans down to the ground and trapped him, leaving him wide open and vulnerable. "You ask what I am? Well, I guess I can show you, since you won't live long enough to tell anyone."

As the woman approached Hans, something even more bizarre began to take place. Her skin and outer appearance began to change, and it started melt away and morph into a black shadowy substance, which stared to peel off and uncoil itself from her body, coming off of her like a black shadow-like cloak. What came out from underneath the appearance of Summer Rose was a creature that looked as though it had come out of someone's worst nightmares. Standing there now was a male Grimm with a very human-like appearance. It had a shadowy black body and white hair, as well as black lines all around its red and black colored eyes. Overall, he possessed a very vampiric looking appearance, like something straight out of a horror story.

"Boo!" said the creature mockingly, and then proceeding to laugh.

"What!?" exclaimed Hans. "You're a Grimm!? A talking Grimm!? What sort of Grimm are you? I didn't think there was any such thing as a Grimm that could possesses human intelligence and speak."

"Don't be so shocked." said the male humanoid Grimm. "My, you humans sure are ignorant. It's like with the proverbial tree falling in the forest. Just because nobody is around to see it or hear it doesn't mean that it's not real."

The Grimm brought Hans to his knees with the immense feeling of dread he emanated, and he put his hand on Hans' chin and held him up. It was if an extraordinarily powerful magical force was coming from the Grimm and was holding Hans down in place, preventing him from being able to move or escape. As the Grimm's hand touched Hans' face, he was taken aback by how cold and lifeless it felt, almost like the hand of a corpse.

"You won't be needing this anymore." said the Grimm, smiling sadistically and tossing Hans' weapon aside where it was out of reach. "Now despair for me boy, just like that woman did when I absorbed and devoured her essence."

As the Grimm proceeded to put his hand over Hans' forehead, Hans could feel himself slipping away into blackness as an overpowering and almost nauseating sense of dread and fear overcame him. It felt as though the Grimm was pulling away his very life force. This seemed to greatly please the Grimm in a twisted and sadistic way, as Hans' despair fed into him and increased his power. As this was happening, Hans could see all of his memories flashing by within his mind, as well as some memories that weren't his, being those belonging to the many victims whose essences this Grimm had taken and devoured in the past, in order to steal their appearances and powers. Within his mind, Hans could see how it was that Summer Rose had died.

Hans could see a memory of Summer Rose on her knees, defeated and with a look of fear and despair on her face, and surrounding her were several dead Grimm. Standing over her was the male Grimm, who put the palm of his hand on Summer Rose's forehead, and it started to glow black with a strange magical aura, and as this happened, Summer Rose's entire body because to crack and turn to dust, which then crumbled away and scattered to the wind. As the dust and ashes of Summer's body scattered, her bones fell to the ground into a stark white pile, along with her red and white hooded cloak. This was all that remained of her after the Grimm had devoured her essence and killed her. The Grimm then shape shifted and morphed his appearance into that of Summer Rose's, and as he did so he began to laugh maniacally at his victory over her. Then, the memory faded to black.

"Am I going to die like that?" Hans thought to himself, his vision coming back to the present. "No, it can't end like this. I still have many things left that I want to do with my life, but I can feel it all just slipping away..."

Suddenly, a luminous white light began to envelop the sky, originating from the direction of Beacon that Hans had been trying to make his way towards. The light was so powerful and bright that it caught the Grimm by surprise and made him stop what he was doing and drop Hans.

"Well, that doesn't look good." said the Grimm, frowning. "This development is quite unexpected." He turned towards the Grimm that were surrounding him. "It looks bad. Everything could be ruined if we're not careful. It's better that we play it safe. We need to retreat for now and report back on this."

The Grimm started to slowly back away and disappear into the woods as they started to flee. The male Grimm looked up to the sky and then from his back began to morph and sprout a pair of black, shadowy wings. With a great leap, he flew into the air and with his wings he began to fly away, leaving Hans behind, beaten and mentally scarred.

"I guess today's your lucky day human." said the Grimm, as he was disappearing into the horizon. "I'm sure we'll meet again someday. You can count on it. When we do, I'll be sure to steal that delicious essence of yours."

"Wait, come back here you bastard Grimm." said Hans, as the Grimm finally disappeared in the distance. "I'm not done with you yet..." Hans began to slip out of consciousness and fell to the ground, passing out.

Hans awoke in the forest several hours later, and the encounter with the intelligent and powerful, humanoid, male, shape shifting Grimm was still fresh in his mind. He collected his weapon and slowly trudged his way out of the forest, and finally emerged from the clearing into the area surrounding Beacon Academy. Upon seeing the devastated ruins of Beacon and the surrounding city, Hans dropped to his knees in hopelessness.

"No, I was too late..." said Hans, slamming his fist into the ground. "Curse that Grimm. I won't forget this. I'll find him one day, and kill him for what he's done." With this, Hans' dream and recollection of his experience at Beacon ended.

* * *

On the night that Beacon fell, in which Han's horrific ordeal with the intelligent humanoid Grimm took place, another lesser known tragedy unfolded after nearly everyone had left the area. Within the now abandoned city walked two survivors of the battle, injured and limping, slowly making their way out of the city after being left behind. One of them was Neo, who had survived her fall from the airship and suffered minor injuries, which were not as severe as they could have been, mostly due to her umbrella having acted somewhat as parachute to slow down her fall. The other survivor was Roman Torchwick, whose clothes were torn and covered in blood after he had cut his way out of the stomach of a Grimm that had swallowed him whole, using a blade that was hidden within his cane. He however had much worse injuries and had to support himself on Neo's shoulder as they made their way out of the city.

"Why did you come back for me Neo?" asked Torchwick, breathing heavily. "What use am I to you? You could have just left me behind and fled like Emerald and Mercury did and saved yourself. Yet you came back just to get me."

Neo looked at Torchwick with one of her silent looks that he was somehow always able to understand. Torchwick could understand that just now Neo was saying something like "I won't leave you behind no matter what."

What wasn't obvious to most people was that on the surface, the relationship between Torchwick and Neo was much closer than it appeared. They had a shared past and history that they didn't often speak about. Torchwick and Neo had actually first met each other as children, having grown up together in the same orphanage. What many people also didn't know was that Neo had been born mute, and as result she was unable to speak or verbally communicate at all. Many of the children at the orphanage often avoided her, unsure of what to make of her, but Torchwick was the only person there that didn't seem to be bothered by her at all. Neo had many strange ways of attempting to communicate with others, but none of the other children or adults at the orphanage seemed to be able to understand what she was trying to say, with the exception of Torchwick. He was somehow the only person who was able to understand and comprehend what she was trying to say. Torchwick himself wasn't exactly sure how it was that he could understand her. Somewhere deep down inside, he just knew what she was trying to say.

Neo was happy that someone was finally able to understand her, and the two formed a bond, becoming close friends. Torchwick in a way sort of became like and interpreter for Neo in her attempts at communication with others, and through him she was able to communicate with other people that she would not have been able to communicate with otherwise. The two became very attached, going just about everywhere together, almost becoming like a lifeline for each other. Torchwick had introduced Neo to a whole new world that she never would have been able to experience before, and this made her happier than she had ever been. He had saved her from a life of silent loneliness that she would otherwise have been destined for. The years passed and the two eventually became old enough that they could no longer stay at the orphanage, and they were thrust out on their own into a world that had rejected them, and a society that looked down upon them as outcasts.

Rejected by society, the two turned to a life of crime in order to survive and became partners in crime. Due to their close partnership in all of the crimes they committed, many people started to get the impression that the two of them were actually married, making them out to be a criminal duo similar to the real life Bonnie and Clyde. Torchwick and Neo didn't really seem to mind this publicity however, and it was possible that their relationship may have even evolved into something more, like love. The reason Neo had come back for Torchwick was because he was somewhat like her other half. He completed her, and without him she would be lost again, unable to communicate with anyone within an unfriendly world that did not think too highly of her.

The two continued limping their way through the city, and they finally reached the road that led out. Standing in their path now however was someone that they knew and had been working with. It was Adam Taurus, and he did not seem too pleased to see them.

"Adam, you're still here?" asked Torchwick, surprised. "Can you help us out here partner? As you can see, we're kind of injured." Adam just stared at them with an expression of disgust and hatred, the same look that many other people in society had given them throughout their lives.

"We're through with you Torchwick." said Adam. Adam then raised his weapon and pointed the sheath of his sword towards them. "Consider this a termination of our partnership." Adam then pulled the trigger to the gun within his sword's sheath, and it fired out a shot that pierced straight through Neo's chest, which then passed right through her and hit Torchwick who was standing right behind her, piercing his chest as well. The two fell to the ground, bleeding and dying.

"Why Adam?" asked Torchwick, as he lay dying on the ground. "I thought we were friends?"

"Partners, yes." said Adam. "But friends; no. I have no use for weakling humans like you, especially ones that try to tell us, The White Fang, what to do. Consider this a repayment for the lives of all of the White Fang members you've wasted in all of your petty human schemes and plans."

Adam began to walk away, leaving the two of them to die there. As their lives began to slip away, Torchwick could feel Neo grasp his hand and he turned to see her smiling at him.

"Together to the end huh?" said Torchwick, faintly smiling. "It's not so bad. At least I have you here with me..." With that, Torchwick and Neo both slipped into the cold embrace of death. The two of them had lived their lives together, always as a pair, and now they have both died together, having them end in the same way.

* * *

 **Well this turned out to be a pretty dark chapter. Now it's clear why exactly it was that Hans just randomly attacked Ruby in the first chapter. It was because he thought he was actually seeing the male Grimm in disguise as Summer Rose again, and that he was planning on doing the same thing to Jaune, Ren, and Nora that he had done to him. When Hans told the story of what happened to him on the night Beacon fell and how his team had died, he conveniently left out the part about this bizarre new Grimm. Hans didn't tell Ruby about it because he cares about her and doesn't want to expose her to the knowledge of something like that, especially since it concerns Summer Rose, which at this point she probably wouldn't be able to handle on top of all of the other stuff that has happened to her recently.**

 **As for the last part of this chapter, I felt as though we needed some sort of solid conclusion to the story of Neo and Torchwick, and confirmation as to whether or not they died. I've always wondered what their past could have been like, especially after Torchwick was telling Ruby about how the world was cruel and will tear you down, when he was fighting her on the airship. The creators have also stated before that Neo was created almost at the last minute, mostly to compliment Torchwick as a character, so I figured that the two must have some sort of shared past or history together.**

 **What Adam did was somewhat understandable, considering that he is a very prideful person and can't stand the thought of him and the White Fang having to follow the orders of humans and die for them. While the ensuing chaos served as a distraction, he stayed behind to make sure that there were no loose ends left behind, and figured that he would be able to get away with it because nobody would know. He could just play it off by saying that Neo and Torchwick had died during the actual battle at Beacon.**


	6. Episode 4: A New Begining

**This chapter took me a little bit longer to write than some of the previous ones did. I had to take more time to plan out how a lot of the character interactions in it would unfold and take place, and flesh them out so that they would seem more natural and believable. Hopefully I got them right.**

* * *

Ruby awoke the next morning to find that everyone else was already up and about. She could smell the scent of food cooking in the air, and looked to find that Ren and Nora were already beginning to make breakfast. Ruby approached Ren and Nora and sat down next to them.

"Good morning to you Ruby." said Nora, sounding as energetic as ever.

"Breakfast is ready if you want some." said Ren.

"Thanks, I'm starving." said Ruby. "So, what's the plan for today? How close are we to reaching Mistral now?"

"Actually, we're already in Mistral." said Ren. "I didn't really notice it until looked at the map just now, but it looks as though we had crossed into Mistral yesterday when we passed by that big wooden road sign."

"So we're almost there now." said Ruby. "How much further until we reach Haven?"

"It should be about two days from here." said Ren. "If we really pick up the pace, then we might even be able to make it there today."

"That's great." said Ruby. "We're now one step closer to finding the answers we've been looking for." Ruby looked around and noticed that Jaune and Hans were not nearby. "Hey, where did Jaune and Hans go?"

"Oh, they already ate." said Ren. "They're over there on top of that hill in the distance. Jaune really wanted to do some training with Hans to help him control his aura better before we got going again."

Ren pointed Ruby towards the hill he spoke of, and Ruby turned to see the two of them there, doing what appeared to be some sort of sparring with each other. She then got up and made her way towards the two of them to see how they were doing.

"You have to try to make it manifest more distinctly." said Hans, showing Jaune an example. "Focus on first emitting your aura from your body, and then shaping it around you."

"Okay, I'll try." said Jaune. Jaune then held up his sword and went into a state of intense concentration. As he continued to build up his focus while in this state, a faint yellow glow started to form around Jaune's body.

"You're doing it Jaune." said Hans. "You're starting to manifest your aura." As Jaune continued, for a very brief moment, his sword Crocea Mors shook in his hand.

"Did you see that!?" shouted Jaune, excited. "My sword moved!"

"I guess it did move just a little bit." said Hans. "It's still progress though, no matter how small it was."

"I wish Pyrrha were here to see this." said Jaune, with a sad tone. "She would be proud."

"Hey guys, what are you up to?" asked Ruby, approaching them.

"Oh, hello Ruby." said Jaune. "Hans was just teaching me how to control my aura better. I still have a long way to go though. But now I'm able to use my aura to heal minor injuries like cuts and scrapes much faster. Isn't that great?"

"That is great." said Ruby. "We'll be leaving soon though. You two should start getting ready. We'll probably be reaching Haven by the end of today."

"Alright then, I guess we'll do this again another time Hans." said Jaune, who then sheathed his sword and walked off to where Ren and Nora were, leaving just Ruby and Hans there on the hill. Before Hans could go too, Ruby stopped him.

"Hey Hans, I'm just wondering, is there something that's been bothering you?" asked Ruby.

"No." said Hans, stopping. "What would make you think that Ruby?"

"It's just that lately, you seem like you haven't been yourself." said Ruby. "It's like something inside you has changed ever since the last time we saw each other. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with what happened on the night the Grimm attacked Beacon and your team was killed. It feels like there's something you aren't telling me about what really happened."

"It's nothing to worry about Ruby." said Hans. "It's just a common case of PTSD. Lots of people usually experience something like it after a huge traumatic event in their lives. I was really close with my team mates, and the way they all died, so sudden and senseless, it's left me with some really bad memories that I still haven't been able to fully cope with." Hans too then started to walk away in the direction Jaune had gone.

"I hope that's all it is." said Ruby, still talking to him as he walked away. "But if you ever feel like you need someone to talk to, just remember that you can always talk to me. We're friends Hans. I've known you longer than anyone. We've always shared so many things with each other. You can tell me anything."

" _Not this though._ " Hans thought to himself in his head. " _There's no way that I could ever tell her about that. She'll freak out if she learns the truth about Summer Rose and what that Grimm did to her._ "

As the group of Ruby, Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Hans later made their way down the road after having packed up their camp site and left, a man watched them from the distance, hiding among the branches of a tree. It was Ruby's uncle Qrow Branwen, who had been following the group ever since they had left Patch, mostly to ensure their safety. He had a look of relief on his face, as if he was pleased with what he saw.

" _Ruby and her friends seem to be doing alright._ " Qrow thought to himself in his mind. " _I'm surprised they've made it this far without running into any trouble. Hans has even joined them too. It's been forever since I last saw him. He's grown a lot since then. I'm glad to see that Ruby has such loyal and dependable friends with her to help her out along the way. It looks like I've got nothing to worry about, though I think I'll still look after them for a little while longer. At least until they reach Haven. These parts of Mistral around here can get pretty rough if you're not on your guard._ " Qrow then jumped down from the tree branch, and as he did so he disappeared and a crow appeared in his place, which then flew off into the horizon, following after Ruby and her friends.

* * *

Somewhere in the world, either in Remnant or in another plane of existence, there exists a hellish and devastated landscape inhabited by a great many Grimm of every sort imaginable. Within this twisted landscape there stood a dark and evil looking castle atop an ominous cliff that towered above everything else in this landscape, and beneath this cliff was a deep, dark, black lake that looked just as terrifying, leaving much to the imagination as to what unknown horrors could lay concealed in the murky depths below. Inside the castle, a gathering was taking place that involved a group of extraordinarily powerful and intelligent Grimm, unlike any Remnant had ever seen before. They were the rulers of all the Grimm in this land and in Remnant, and they consisted of five humanoid beings, all comprising an entire family of Grimm. At the head of these five beings was Salem, the matriarch of the family, and the other four Grimm with her who resembled her in both appearance and intelligence were her children. The group was now in the midst of discussing what their future plans for Remnant would be.

"We have searched far and wide all across Remnant, but we have been unable to find a single trace of Ozpin whatsoever." said one of the Grimm, who was the same vampiric Grimm that had attacked Hans on the night Beacon fell, as well as the one who had killed Summer Rose and devoured her essence.

"He'll turn up sooner or later." said Salem, sounding mildly annoyed. "I know he's not dead. Something like that is not enough to kill someone as powerful as him."

"That coward Ozpin will run and hide like he always does, sending children to fight his battles for him." said the vampiric Grimm.

"We needn't concern ourselves with him at the moment." said Salem. Behind his mother Salem stood three other humanoid Grimm; his brother Lycaon, and his two sisters Lilith and Agnes. "I have new task for you Dracul, my child."

"Oh, what will you have me do now?" asked the vampiric Grimm named Dracul, sounding curious. "Is it something fun?"

"It might be." said Salem, smiling. "Recently, I have felt a strange new power awaken in Remnant. I felt it on the same night that Cinder Fall unleashed the Grimm onto Beacon and brought it to ruins. I'm quite certain now of what it was. Another one of _"those"_ warriors has awakened somewhere within Remnant."

"Ah, it's those accursed silver-eyed warriors again I see?" said Dracul, with a tone of disdain. "We keep killing them, but they just keep coming back. They're all such stubborn pests."

"Stubborn pests indeed." said Salem. "But they are still a threat to us that must be eliminated as soon as they manifest, lest they become powerful enough to oppose us in the future."

"What shall we do about this new silver-eyed warrior, whoever they are?" asked Dracul.

"I need you find out who it is that has manifested the power this time." said Salem. "You don't have to kill them, yet. Just simply find out who they are. If their power has not matured yet, then they might even turn out being useful to us, and it could even help accelerate our plans."

"Consider it done." said Dracul, smiling. "I really hope this one isn't as disappointing as the last one was. It's been so long since I've strong opponent to face in battle."

"You should take your brother Lycaon with you." said Salem, gesturing to the second male humanoid Grimm standing next to her. "I have a feeling that Ozpin somehow has his hand in all this, and that this new warrior might be under the watch and protection of his allies."

Compared to Dracul's more thin and slender build, his brother Lycaon had a more muscular and heavy build. Lycaon also had black fur covering his body in several places, giving him an overall beast-like appearance, making him somewhat resemble a werewolf in human form.

"We're off then mother." said the beast-like Grimm named Lycaon. "In time we'll make Ozpin pay for what he has done. We'll have our revenge, and finally take back what is rightfully ours."

With that, the two Grimm brothers Dracul and Lycaon set off on their mission to Remnant to find the new silver-eyed warrior, making their way out of the castle and leaving their mother Salem, and their two sisters Lilith and Agnes, behind to continue on as they were with their own plans. As the Grimm brothers navigated their way out of the castle and into the wilderness outside, they passed by several types of Grimm that possessed roughly humanoid shapes. They were very twisted and primal in their appearance, and their features were not as defined and human-like as theirs were. Despite their vague similarities to the brothers, these elite Grimm were nowhere near as powerful or intelligent as they were. Although Salem considered all of the Creatures of Grimm to be her _"children"_ , the two of them and their two sisters were the only ones who were Salem's actual biological children, having inherited the same power and intelligence as her. The two brothers finally reached the edge of the cliff that the castle was built on, and looked down to see the pitch black lake below.

"Like you brother, it's been a long time since I've last had a worthy opponent to fight." said Lycaon. "I can't wait to find out what this silver-eyed warrior and their allies are like. I hope they're strong. I will greatly enjoy sinking my fangs into them as I devour every last part of them."

"As will I brother." said Dracul, smiling evilly. "Now, off to Remnant we go." With that, the two Grimm brothers jumped off the cliff and fell straight into the black lake below, disappearing into its murky depths.

* * *

It was another dreary winter day for Yang at her home on the island of Patch. Although she had lost all of her motivation and confidence, having been in somewhat of a depressed mood lately, Yang had actually tried to go outside for a change. Since the weather outside this day looked nice, she had decided to tend to the mess of thorny branches and ivy vines that were beginning to grow up the side of the house and over her window. One branch of thorns was proving to be particularly stubborn, pricking Yang in the hand and causing her to lose her temper, resulting in her forcibly ripping off the thorn branch with her remaining arm and tossing it aside. As Yang was doing this, a visitor approached the house from the path leading up to it.

"You might want to be a little more careful there." said the visitor. "You don't want to hurt yourself do you?" Yang turned around to see that the person visiting her home was none other than James Ironwood, of all people."

"Ironwood?" said Yang, surprised to see him there. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello Yang." said Ironwood, smiling. "Is your father home? I came here to speak with him."

"He's not home." said Yang. "It's just me here. He left this morning with Glynda, Oobleck, and Port to go help push the Grimm back from a village that's recently been having some trouble with them."

"A common story these days it seems, unfortunately." said Ironwood with a sad tone. "I guess I missed him then?"

"You could probably find him very easily." said Yang. "Couldn't you just call him on his Scroll?"

"I could do that." said Ironwood. "But I also came here to deliver something. It's something for you actually."

"For me?" asked Yang, surprised.

Ironwood reached into his traveling bag and pulled out a yellow metallic gauntlet. It was the other in the pair of Yang's gauntlet weapons Ember Celica that she had lost at Beacon, along with her right arm.

"It's my other weapon." said Yang, surprised. "How did you get it?"

"We came across it when we were surveying the ruins of Beacon while out on a scouting mission recently." said Ironwood. "I figured we might as well bring it back to you since we happened to retrieve it." Ironwood then handed the gauntlet to Yang, who took it, and having no other way to carry it with her without occupying her hand, put it onto her remaining arm.

"You seem to be adjusting quite well despite your injury." said Ironwood, noticing how seamlessly Yang was able to put the gauntlet on with just one arm. "Your dexterity has improved to compensate for your missing arm."

"Was my arm there too when you found this?" asked Yang, sounding curious.

"There wasn't any trace of it nearby." said Ironwood. "It was just your weapon laying there on the ground."

"I guess something ate it then." said Yang, sounding somewhat disappointed. "It was probably a stupid Grimm."

"It can't be that bad." said Ironwood. "At least you still have your life, and now you have your other weapon back too, so you can go back to fighting at full strength."

"What good is it if I can never be a Huntress now?" asked Yang, sadly looking at the stump of her missing arm. "Look at me, I'm completely useless now. I'll never be able to fight again in this condition. So what if I have my other gauntlet back now? I'm still half the person I used to be. I'll never be able to change that."

"Yes you can." said Ironwood. "You can do anything you set your mind to if you have the will and determination to do it. You're too strong to let something like this bring you down."

"How would you know?" asked Yang. "How could you possibly understand what I'm going through?"

"Because I was the same as you." said Ironwood. "I've suffered the same pain and tragedy as you, but I climbed back up from it."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang. "You're the same as me?"

"I'll show you." said Ironwood. He then proceeded to unbutton his jacket and remove the shirt underneath, revealing the extensive cybernetics all over his body. "Look at this broken and battered body of mine. I've suffered countless injuries far worse than yours, and I've fallen in battle many times. But you know what? Each time I always got back up and kept on fighting. I never let these injuries define who I am and what I can do."

"What is all this?" asked Yang, shocked to see the cybernetics on Ironwood's body.

"Over the years, most of my body has been replaced with cybernetics because of my injuries." said Ironwood. "But never once did it stop me from being able to do what I wanted. Looking back on my life, I've had no regrets. I just kept on moving forward and never looked back. The flesh may be weak, but the spirit is strong and can never die. I know you're too strong to allow something like a missing arm to slow you down. So what if it's gone? You can always just get a new one. Body parts are easily replaceable with today's technology, but what can never be replaced or replicated is the indomitable human spirit and its relentless determination to keep moving forward no matter what happens."

"You actually think I can overcome this?" asked Yang. "How is that you overcame all of that? How did you overcome the same despair that I'm feeling now?"

"They say that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." said Ironwood. "This experience will definitely make you stronger, if you'll let it. I was the same way as you are now when I first received these injuries on my body, but in time I was able to realize that it wasn't a handicap at all, but a chance for me to learn more about myself and what I was capable of if I pushed myself hard enough. After I realized that, my handicap no longer had any power over me, and since then I have been able to ascend to newer and greater heights than before, and keep getting back up each time I'm knocked down without any doubt or fear in my mind."

Yang was surprised to hear that for once someone was actually believing in her wholeheartedly and telling her what she was capable of, rather than just simply pitying her because of her handicap. As Yang processed the words of Ironwood's speech to her, her demeanor began to change somewhat for the better, and it was as though a glimmer of hope had begun to shine on her from the end of a long dark tunnel. This seemed to have given her a new outlook on her situation. She began to realize that losing her arm was not the end of everything, but instead it was a chance for her to look into herself and from there move forward with her life in a new direction, possessing a renewed and reinvigorated sense of purpose. It was like a phoenix rising from the ashes to be reborn, stronger than it was before.

"If you can do it, then I guess I can do it too." said Yang, feeling her spirits starting to lift. "Why did you decide to tell me all this anyway?"

"It's just that seeing you like this, it struck a chord somewhere deep inside me and reminded me of how I used to be." said Ironwood, thinking back on his past.

"You know, I think this might have been exactly what I needed to hear." said Yang, feeling uplifted. "If this is just another step towards me becoming even stronger, than maybe I can still become a Huntress after all. It's just that I'll be missing a few parts only."

"I'm glad I could be of assistance." said Ironwood. "So what will you do now? You've got the whole world ahead of you. It's too bad you can't go back to Beacon anymore though."

"Now that I think about it, I don't actually know what I should do next." said Yang. "Beacon is gone, probably for good, and all of my friends and teammates are scattered across the world. My sister Ruby also left to go to Mistral not too long ago. Everyone seems to have left me behind. I wish there was something I could do to help with the way things are now, instead of just sitting around here doing nothing."

"You know, if you really want to help, I think there might be something for you could do." said Ironwood, thinking deeply. "We might have some important work that you could assist us with."

"What sort of work?" asked Yang, her interest piqued.

"It's somewhat related what your father has been doing recently." said Ironwood. "Helping to clear the Grim out from the areas in Vale they've invaded recently, and push them back."

"Isn't that what everyone else has been doing?" asked Yang. "It doesn't seem to be working so far, and the Grimm just keep coming back."

"That may be the case for now, but that could soon change." said Ironwood, smirking. "Recently, we've been developing some experimental new weapons that could be used to fight the Grimm, but we have still yet to test them in actual combat against the Grimm."

"What would you need me to do?" asked Yang, having a vague idea of where Ironwood might be going with this.

"We need volunteers, strong warriors like you, to help us test them." said Ironwood. "They're experimental enhancements that will increase the power of a Huntsman or Huntress' weapons by infusing special types of Dust into them, potentially amplifying their power tenfold or more. Your father Taiyang has already become somewhat familiar with the new technology and has agreed to try it out, but we still need more people. Would you be interested in trying it too? Not only would you be helping out your father by fighting together with him, but you will also be helping in the relief efforts and doing a great service to the Kingdom of Vale by eradicating the invading Grimm."

"I think I might be interested." said Yang, thinking about the offer. "The enhancements could really give Ember Celica an extra kick. When do we get started?"

"It could be right now if you want." said Ironwood. "Come with me and we'll go find your father, and take him with us too."

"That sounds great." said Yang. "There's just one thing though."

"What is it?" asked Ironwood.

"Before I'm on board with this whole plan, I want a cool robot arm to replace the one I lost." said Yang, smiling.

"I can arrange that." said Ironwood. "Atlesian cybernetics are some of the most advanced in the world."

"Awesome." said Yang. "It's a deal then. I'll go start packing."

Yang then ran off into the house behind her and made her way to her room, where she began packing her bags for the trip. She packed every possible necessity that she thought she might need, finally topping it off by packing the two gauntlets of her weapon Ember Celica into her traveling bag. Yang then proceeded to go back outside to meet Ironwood, closing and locking the door behind her, ready to begin a new chapter in her life.

* * *

Deep in the Kingdom of Atlas, within the Schnee Manor, Weiss Schnee was in her room getting dressed and packing her bags early in the morning, and when she was finally done, she sheathed her rapier weapon Myrtenaster at her side. It looked as though Weiss was getting ready to leave on a long journey, one which she would not be telling her family members about. She left her room and quietly tiptoed her way through the mansion, passing by the bedrooms of her family members and finally reaching the bottom floor. Realizing that going through the front door would likely make too much noise and wake everyone up, Weiss made her way towards the back of the mansion, deciding that she would instead sneak out from the backdoor.

As she reached the rear part of the mansion, she found herself in what appeared to be a small private museum, which functioned as a place for the Schnee family to store their collection of valuable artifacts and heirlooms that it had collected over the years. She continued to make her way through this area of the mansion, seeing the door to the outside close by. Before she reached the door, something caught her eye and she stopped for a quick second to take one last look at it before leaving for good. Mounted on the wall in front of her was what appeared to be a thin white bone or horn about the length of her rapier's blade, which tapered off at the end. Inscribed in various places all over this object were what appeared to be magical glyphs, and engraved on the very bottom of the thicker part of the object, there was a small black, skull-like crest. Weiss stood there for a moment and stared at the object, mesmerized by its mystical presence.

"It's really pretty, isn't it?" said a voice coming from behind Weiss. Weiss immediately jumped up in surprise and turned around to find her older sister Winter standing there in her pajamas.

"Winter..." Weiss began to say, not being able to find the words.

"What are you doing Weiss?" asked Winter, crossing her arms. "Let me guess, you're running away again, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?" asked Weiss.

"Why do you keep doing this Weiss?" asked Winter. "Do you ever stop to consider the consequences that your actions might have?"

"I don't care about any of that." said Weiss. "There's something important that I have to do."

"Are those friends of yours really worth going that far for?" asked Winter. "Are they really that important to you that you'd leave everything behind just for them?"

"They are." said Weiss. "They've done so much for me already, and right now they need me now more than ever. I can't just sit around here and do nothing anymore. I have to help them fix things and make everything right again."

"Things can never go back to how they were." said Winter. "You're naive if you think you can change that, little sister."

"That may be, but I won't see everything fall further into ruin from to my lack of trying." said Weiss. "Being at Beacon has changed me as a person. Before I would just turn a blind eye to all the misfortunes of the world, but now I just can't stand the thought of simply looking the other way, not when I know I can make a difference."

"It seems your dead set on doing this then?" said Winter.

"Yes, I am." said Weiss.

"I guess I can't stop you then." said Winter, smiling. "Just remember that I'm the one who's going to get all the flak from dad once he finds out you're gone."

"Tell him it was all me." said Weiss. "It was my own decision to leave, and there was nothing you could do to stop me."

"Do you even know where you're going?" asked Winter.

"I talked with my teammate Yang the other day on my Scroll." said Weiss. "She told me that Ruby and her friends had left the other day, and I have a pretty good idea where they're going and where I should look for them."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" asked Winter. "It's a dangerous world out there."

"I'm a skilled Huntress now." said Weiss. "I can protect myself. My weapon will make sure of that, but it also wouldn't hurt to bring a little something extra." Weiss then reached over to the white object hanging on the wall and picked it up, surprised by how strange it felt in her hands.

"You're taking the Walpurgisnacht wand with you?" asked Winter. "Are you sure you can handle it? It may be a powerful summoning wand that has assisted our family in their summoning spells over the generations, but very few of us have actually been able to fully master it and control it properly. Even I can't seem to fully grasp its power, so I just gave up trying a long time ago."

"I've been practicing my summoning a lot over these past few months." said Weiss. "I've gotten much better Winter, and you know it. I've almost reached your level. I'm certain I can handle it. It almost feels like the wand is calling out for me to use it. Maybe it's just looking for the right wielder that can use it properly? Besides, if I don't use it, then who will? Isn't it better for a Schnee to actually be using it for what it was meant for rather, than for the wand to just be sitting there on the wall and collecting dust?"

"Fine, if you think it will help, then take it." said Winter. "But don't come crying to me when it backfires on you though."

"Well, I'm off then." said Weiss, putting the wand into her traveling pack, where it would be kept safe for the time being. She began to make her way to the door leading outside and opened it. "Goodbye Winter."

"Wait Weiss, don't leave just yet." said Winter, who ran over to Weiss and stood next to her in the cold outside. Winter grabbed hold of her sister and pulled her in for a warm goodbye hug. "Good luck Weiss. I hope you at least manage to accomplish what you're trying to do, however foolish it might be. It's going to be pretty boring here without you. I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too Winter." said Weiss, hugging her sister tightly. "I'll be sure to call you on my Scroll and let you know how things go."

"Goodbye Weiss." said Winter, finally letting go of Weiss. Weiss then started to walk away, stepping into the outside world and starting on her journey to Mistral, where she hoped to find Ruby and her other friends, and join them on their quest for answers.

* * *

 **With this chapter, I finally got the ball rolling for a lot of plot points. For the longest time however, I had the most trouble coming up with the names for Salem's children. I went through so many different ideas for naming themes and alterations of those names based on their origins. I'll expand more upon the lore surrounding these new intelligent humanoid Grimm with the next chapter, which will be another World of Remnant segment.**

 **As for Yang's new development where she finally gets her confidence and motivation back, I felt as though Ironwood should have been the one to help her do it, as strange as that may sound. If Yang were to look at him and see the cybernetics on his body, she would probably start to think that if he can come back from that, then she should definitely be able to come back from losing her arm. Also, I figured that it is likely through Ironwood that Yang would end up getting a new cybernetic arm anyway, since he would have access to that type of technology afterall.**


	7. World of Remnant: The Grimm Lords

**Well, here is another World of Remnant segment, this time to explain and elaborate upon this strange new phenomenon of the humanoid Grimm that have appeared recently in the story, and give some more insight into them and their characters.**

* * *

Since time immemorial, the Grimm have plagued the world of Remnant and its people. The Creatures of Grimm, as they eventually came to be called by humans, came in a wide variety of different types and species, each with many variations of their own. However, there were occasionally some instances in which certain particularly strange or bizarre Grimm were known to appear. Reports from Hunters and Huntresses going back several centuries would sometimes speak of encounters a certain variety of strange humanoid type Grimm. These elite humanoid Grimm were much more powerful than their more common animal-like brethren were, but despite their vague humanoid shapes, they still lacked the intelligence of a human. They behaved more like scatterbrained zombies, and such did not pose as much of a threat as their frightening appearances would lead one to believe.

Nobody knew what the true nature of these bizarre humanoid Grimm were, or where exactly they came from. They just came and went as they pleased, appearing very rarely, as the saying goes, once in a blue moon. The threat that these humanoid Grimm posed to Remnant as a whole was minimal, as they could be defeated quite easily if a Hunter or Huntress was skilled enough and knew exactly what they were doing when fighting them. Behind the strange appearances of these unusual humanoid Grimm though, there lurked something far more dark and sinister in the background that very few people had ever witnessed and lived to tell about.

Even rarer than these encounters with this strange species of humanoid Grimm, there have been rumors, myths, and legends throughout Remnant's history of five unique Grimm in particular. These five Grimm were known to possess very human-like appearances for a Grimm, and could almost be mistaken for one when looked at from a glance. What's even stranger is that these five unique Grimm had intelligence far beyond that of any normal Grimm, rivaling even that of a human's, and what's more, they had the ability to speak. Whereas the rare species of humanoid Grimm mentioned earlier could sometimes mimic human words that they had heard, and repeat them in turn, these five very human-like Grimm could actually, quite concisely, speak words with meaning.

These five unique and powerful Grimm came to be known simply as The Grimm Lords, mainly due to the fact that all lesser Grimm seemed to mindlessly follow and obey them without question, as if they saw them as a higher authority, leading to the speculation that these five Grimm were the supreme rulers among all the Creatures of Grimm. Despite having been seen and witnessed before, the knowledge of the existence of these five Grimm was not widely known throughout Remnant, and many believed them to just be rumors and stories. This was due primarily to the fact that many who encountered these Grimm Lords often did not live to tell about the experience, and those who did were often left mentally scarred by their experience, and as a result nobody believed their accounts of what they had witnessed, simply writing them off as being crazy or insane. But they were real, and somewhere in Remnant or in another world they dwelt, commanding the Creatures of Grimm from afar, and crafting their dark schemes and designs.

In all of the instances in which these five Grimm Lords have been spotted, they were often seen either travelling together as a whole group, traveling in pairs, or just travelling by themselves, which indicted a likely possibility that these five Grimm Lords were all related to each other, and that each of them were the members of a family. The one who appeared to be the most powerful and prominent Grimm among the five of them was a being known as Salem, who was very likely the matriarch of the family, and the mother of the four other Grimm Lords with her. While this creature named Salem considered all of the Creatures of Grimm to be her _"children"_ , seeing herself the Mother Grimm, the four other Grimm Lords in her company were the only ones among the Grimm who were her actual biological children. Who the father of these children of Salem is and where they came from is complete mystery, if they even have a father at all that is.

All four of Salem's children were exceptionally powerful, just as she was, and each of them had their own various special abilities and skills that they had inherited from her. They all possessed varying degrees of magical powers, individually specializing in certain areas, and they all possessed the ability to shape shift to some extent and alter their forms at will. The eldest and most powerful among Salem's children was her eldest daughter Lilith, who was also known by her title of Queen of the Night. Lilith possessed the strongest magic out off all of her siblings, and was able to cast a wide range of powerful spells from almost every type of magic imaginable. The second and next most powerful of Salem's children was her eldest son Dracul, also known by his titles of King of the Night and The Semblance Eater. Dracul possessed one of the strangest and most devious powers among his siblings, having the ability to rip the life out of any living creature he came across and devour its essence. He could masterfully shape shift into nearly any creature he has ever devoured, and when taking on the form and appearances of any of his previous victims, he could even make use of the powers, skills, and abilities they had once possessed in life. Dracul was a truly dangerous foe indeed, and many opponents, both Hunter and Huntress alike have fallen to him, with his most recent victim of note having been the famed Huntress and Silver-eyed Warrior Summer Rose.

The third and next most powerful of Salem's children was her youngest daughter Agnes, who was also known by her title of Lady of Shadows. Agnes had the unique ability to mentally invade the minds of others, even being able to enter the thoughts and dreams of humans as they slept, and she had command over all shadows in her vicinity, being able to manipulate them at will, making the darkness her absolute domain. Finally, the fourth and next most powerful of Salem's children was her youngest son Lycaon, who was also known by his title of Lord of the Beasts. Lycaon like his brother Dracul also possessed an ability to shape shift, but his allowed him to take on the form of any beast in existence, both animal and Grimm alike, and all of their forms were his to take for his own and use whenever he pleased. Aside from this ability, Lycaon also possessed one other unique ability, in which he could absorb any kind of kinetic force directed at him, and then after absorbing it into his body send that force back at his target, effectively making him invulnerable to almost all physical attacks.

These four Grimm siblings, along with their mother Salem, were terrifying and formidable foes, wrecking much havoc throughout Remnant's history during the few instances in which they appeared, and were a bane to the existence of all Hunters and Huntresses. Even the Four Maidens and the Silver Eyed Warriors have come to know the terror of the Grimm Lords on numerous occasions. In fact, the children of Salem were their most persistent nemesis, and the two sides often faced each other in intense battles across the many incarnations of the Maidens and Silver Eyed Warriors. The Grim Lords have always hunted them, but to this day they have never been able to fully vanquish or defeat them due to their constant reemergence in new hosts, igniting anew their battles with them, over and over again.

For the most part, Lilith and Agnes often stayed with their mother Salem, rarely having a reason to venture out into Remnant unless it was absolutely necessary, and as a result, there are not as many sightings of them. On the other hand, their brothers Dracul and Lycaon ventured out into Remnant much more frequently, leading to sightings of them being more common, resulting in their existences being more well-known than that of their sisters. In fact, the two brothers have become so notorious that they have come to be known by one name in particular, The Brothers Grimm, a name which is feared all throughout Remnant by its Hunters and Huntresses.

* * *

 **I've got to say, coming up with the lore surrounding these four children of Salem is probably one of the elements of this story that I have had the most trouble with. For the longest time, I couldn't even figure out what to name them. I've gone through so many different ideas for what kind of theme their names should follow, but finally I decided on one. Originally, I was going to give them all names following a theme of witchcraft and magic, like their mother Salem's name does, but then I instead decided on making their names based on certain well known creatures of the night. Having them follow that theme instead makes much more sense because at their core, the Grimm are basically Remnant's creatures of the night.**

 **Starting with the sisters, the eldest one Lilith is based on the various depictions of female demons that have been described in many cultures and mythologies from around the world. In particular, she is named after the demon Lilith, who is considered to be one the very first demons. The younger sister Agnes is based on the character of Black Annis, sometimes known as Black Agnes, from English folklore. Black Agnes is sort of like a bogeyman that supposedly appears in the night and kidnaps naughty children. She is also somewhat related to a type of creature known as a night hag, which sometimes visits people in their sleep and tries to harm them, and are often blamed for causing nightmares.**

 **As for the brothers, it's probably a little more obvious what creatures of the night they are supposed to be named after. The eldest brother Dracul is based on a vampire, and who else better for him to be named after than the most famous vampire of them all, Count Dracula. The younger brother is based on a werewolf, and he is named after the legendary king from Greek mythology named Lycaon, who as punishment for some heinous crime that angered the god Zeus, he was turned into a wolf-like creature, becoming the very first werewolf and the origin of the term Lycan.**

 **With all this being said, it kind of makes me wonder, could Salem have actually given birth to all four of these children, or could she have just created them using her own powers? If they all did have a father, what man could possibly have been brave enough to have four kids with her? I wonder, maybe it could have been Ozpin, since he seems to have some sort of connection with Salem. Maybe the reason Salem hates Ozpin so much is because he ran away and never payed child support. :)**


	8. Episode 5: Baptism of Fire

**Well, this chapter took much longer for me to get out than I was expecting. I ran into several unexpected real life problems during the process of writing it. Mainly, my laptop that I've had for five years just decided to die on me, so I had to go get a new one and transfer everything from my old laptop's hard drive (where all of my files are, including the document that I write this story in), and transfer all of them onto the hard drive of my new laptop.**

 **The whole process was a huge pain, and it delayed the progress on a lot of the personal projects I was working on, including this one. But here I am now, finally able to release this newest chapter after sorting everything out. This is a chapter that I've been looking forward to releasing for a very long time, as it deals with the tragic backstory of a certain character in RWBY that we still don't really know much about, despite how big of a role they have had in the events of the story so far.**

* * *

The group of Ruby, Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Hans were now well into the Kingdom of Mistral, and the city where Haven Academy was located was just starting come into view in the distance as they followed the road. To pass the time, Ruby and Hans had decided to tell Jaune, Ren, and Nora a story of something they had once done in their childhood.

"So after that, we both dared each other to jump off the swing at the same time while in midair, and see if we could land right on the branch of a really big tree nearby." said Ruby. "It didn't go too well. We stuck the landing, but we were going too fast that we came down so hard that the branch broke and hit us both between the legs. It hurt so badly, even for me. After that, we were both peeing blood for about a week."

"And that is the story of the dumbest thing we've ever done as kids." said Hans.

"That sounds... painful." said Ren.

"Wow, that was definitely a stupid thing to do." said Jaune. "Why would you do that?"

"Kids do stupid things all the time." said Hans. "You've probably also done some stupid dares as a kid too that you're too embarrassed to talk about."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." said Ruby. "But we obviously didn't think it all the way through."

"Look, there's the city." said Ren, pointing out their destination on the map he was holding in his hands, and comparing it to the large city they now saw standing before them. "We're here at last. Now we just have to get to Haven Academy from here."

"Time to get started on our search for answers then." said Jaune.

As the group entered the city, they were awestruck by how different it was compared to the city of Vale. It had a more futuristic look to it, and it gave off a much cleaner appearance with a sparkling natural beauty to it. They spent the next few hours wandering the city and taking in all the sights and sounds, using their time to fully explore it and get a feel for the area. Finally, they reached a large plaza that led into the grounds of what appeared to be a large facility similar in size and appearance to Beacon Academy.

"After all those detours we took, and the sightseeing we did, we finally found the place." said Jaune, panting and sitting down on a nearby bench, exhausted, and the others joined him too. "We could have come here sooner without wasting as much time, but Nora just haaaddd to go see everything there was to see in this city."

"At least we had fun doing it." said Ruby. "It was just what we needed to lift our spirits, since we've all been so down in the dumps lately."

"We might as well enjoy ourselves, since we might never get another chance like this again." said Hans.

"What's our next move Ruby?" asked Ren. "Haven is where Cinder Fall came from, and now we're finally here, so what do we do now?"

"I... don't know." said Ruby, shrugging and blushing.

"Wait, Ruby don't tell me..." Jaune began to say, horrified. "You spent all that time focused on getting us here that you never even stopped to think about what we would do once we got here?"

"Maybe...kind of... yes..." said Ruby, feeling embarrassed.

"You know what they say." said Nora. "It's not the destination that matters, but the journey."

"But this is backwards." said Jaune, sounding somewhat annoyed and frustrated. "Usually it happens the other way around. Someone would be so focused on getting to their destination and accomplishing their goal that they would forget to enjoy the journey there, but we did the exact opposite, enjoying the journey, but not having any idea what we'd do once we reached the destination. What was our goal to begin with anyway?"

"Looking for clues I guess." said Hans.

"What, like one of those old cartoons about a gang of teenagers solving mysteries with their dog?" said Jaune, sarcastically. "We should have brought Zwei with us, then we'd have the full package."

"Wow, you guys really are hopeless without me, aren't you." said a voice, which came from behind the group.

Startled by this, everyone immediately turned around to see who it was, and they were surprised to find Weiss Schnee standing there in the grass behind them, with a smug and triumphant look on her face.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouted in surprise, as she got up and hugged her friend and teammate. "I've missed you so much."

Everyone else then got up and greeted Weiss as well, happy to see their friend who had been absent for the past few months.

"It's good to see you guys too." said Weiss, smiling. "I'm glad you're all here." Weiss then took notice of Hans and turned towards him. Hello, I don't believe I've met you."

"Ah, so you must be the Ice Princess Weiss Schnee that Ruby has told me so much about." said Hans. "I don't know if they've told you before, but I'm actually a close friend of Ruby and Yang. My name is Hans Quicksilver."

"Oh, now I remember." said Weiss. "Ruby and Yang have mentioned you before. You're the kid that once climbed onto the roof of the bell tower at Signal Academy because of a dare, and then Ruby had go up there and get you because you were too scared to come down on your own, and the whole school watched and laughed, right? Ruby and Yang used to always tell the funniest stories about you." Weiss then started to laugh a bit as she recalled the story.

"What!?" exclaimed Hans. "Ruby, you told her about that?" Hans now felt thoroughly embarrassed. "I was only going up there because those bullies put my stuff up there and made me do it, but it's just that I'm so terrified of heights."

"I came up there to help you overcome your fear Hans." said Ruby. "I'd heard that the best way for someone to overcome a fear is to have a friend there with you to walk you through it. But that only seemed to make it worse, and I had to rescue you instead. You were latched onto me like a scared kitten the whole way down."

"Wait a minute, how did you even find us Weiss?" asked Jaune, suddenly changing the subject, seeing that Hans was beginning to turn red now.

"I found out from Yang." said Weiss. "I tried calling Ruby's house in Patch the other day to see how she and Yang were doing, but only Yang was there. Yang told me that I had just missed Ruby, and that she had left a few days before with Jaune, Ren, and Nora to go to Mistral. The rest was easy for me to figure out once I applied logic. Since you were looking for information on Cinder Fall, I figured that you would most likely be going to Haven Academy first for answers, considering that is the school Cinder Fall had been posing as a student from, at least as far as we know. You already had a head start on me of just a few days, but since my home in the Kingdom was Atlas was much closer to Mistral then Ruby's home in Vale is, I was certain that I would be able to reach Haven Academy first. After that, all I had to do was just wait here for you until you arrived, and I was right."

"That's our Weiss for you." said Ruby, proudly. "She's always thinking ten steps ahead of everyone else."

"I see." said Hans, thinking to himself and then coming up with a question to ask. "I know, Weiss, what do you think our next move should be? We're kind of lost on what to do now that we've reached our destination."

"Now we do some research." said Weiss. "If Cinder Fall was indeed a student at Haven Academy, and a resident of this city, then there should be records of it somewhere, either at Haven Academy itself, or in the public records of the city."

"Where do we start then?" asked Hans.

"The best place to start would be in the records archive stored within the CCT Tower here at Haven." said Weiss. "Even though cross continental communications across Remnant with the CCT towers has been cut off after what happened at Beacon, within each Kingdom's tower there should still be a digital archive of all of that Kingdom's records and information from before the signal was lost. They can still be accessed offline, but in order to do that you would have to go into the tower itself and log into one of the terminals there."

"That sounds simply enough." said Hans.

"Normally it would be." said Weiss, continuing. "However, now it's different. Ever since Cinder's infiltration into Vale's CCT tower, and what happened because of it, all of the other Kingdoms have become very protective of their own remaining CCT Towers. They've heavily restricted access to the towers. Only those who have been given the proper clearance are allowed access to the CCT Towers now. Even though the towers can't send messages to each other anymore, they still have a lot of important and sensitive information from each Kingdom stored in them that they want to keep protected, so it's understandable."

"That's just great." said Jaune. "How are we supposed to get access now that the tower is guarded like a bank vault?"

"There's no need to worry." said Weiss, smiling as if she knew something that they didn't. "I'll be able to get us all the clearance we'll need. My status and influence as a member of the Schnee Family can help get me into a lot of places, including the CCT Tower here in Haven. This shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Wow, you're a real life saver Weiss." said Hans.

"What would we ever do without you Weiss?" said Ruby. "You always seem to have a solution to everything."

"Alright then soldiers, onward, to the CCT Tower!" said Nora, enthusiastically. "But we'll have to change our name again. We can't be the Fearsome Five anymore." She stopped to think for a moment. "Now we're the Spectacular Six!"

"What is she talking about?" asked Weiss, with a look of confusion.

"Don't worry about it." said Ren. "Just play along."

The group then got up and began walking through the campus of Haven Academy and towards the CCT Tower. On their way there, they passed by many of the students of Haven Academy who going about their daily lives on the campus, some of which they even recognized as having taken part in the Vytal Festival. As they made their way to the tower, Ruby and Weiss remained at the back of the group, and when the others were too far away to hear them, Weiss began speaking to Ruby in private.

"Hey Ruby, there's something I've been wanting to ask you." said Weiss.

"What is it Weiss?" asked Ruby.

"How is everyone doing now?" asked Weiss. "You know, after what happened at Beacon, and now that Pyrrha is gone?" Weiss made sure to choose her words carefully, so as not to unintentionally bring back any lingering bad memories that Ruby might still have of the day Beacon fell.

"So far we've all been able to accept what happened and move on." said Ruby. "But it has left scars on all of us that we can never forget. I can't really speak for Yang and Blake at the moment, but I've mostly gotten over it. Ren and Nora both seem to be taking it very well too. Even Hans, who had a bad experience of his own when his team was killed by Grimm that night seems to be taking it pretty well, though I suspect there are some details he's not telling me about it that he wants to keep to himself."

"That's good to hear." said Weiss. "I'm about the same as you. Being stuck at home for all those months gave me plenty of time to process and rationalize it all. Now I'm doing fine. I feel like I'm back to how I was before."

"Overall, I think we've adjusted pretty well, however, there's still Jaune." said Ruby. "He says he's moved on and that it doesn't bother him anymore, but it's obvious that he's just putting on an act just to look strong. He was the closest to Pyrrha, and her death has probably affected him the most. He's probably bottling up all of his feelings because he doesn't want us to see how fragile he is on the inside. I can tell right away because I've seen this before. My dad was the same way for a while after my mom died."

"I see." said Weiss. "Jaune does seem a little different now. I hope he's going to be okay. I just want to make sure that if we're all going to be a team again that everyone is fine both physically and mentally. We all need to be on the same page. If there's anything that's bothering us, we should be able to openly discuss it and help each other out. That's what friends are for after all."

"I'm glad to know that you care too." said Ruby. "Now that Beacon is gone, the road ahead of us will be much harder, and at times we might even feel lost. If we're going to get through this new stage in our lives, we need to support each other."

The group finally reached the entrance to the CCT Tower, and at the entrance stood two armed guards. Weiss showed the guards her identification card, proving she was a member of the Schnee Family. She told them that she was there to conduct some business associated with the Schnee Dust Corporation, and that the group with her were her assistants. The guards then allowed them to enter, and they took the elevator to the top floor where all the computer terminals were. Upon exiting the elevator, they noticed that the place was unexpectedly packed. The room was filled all sorts of people, ranging from government officials, news and business people, Haven Academy staff, and even some students.

There was even a Haven Academy teacher there who was holding a class with her students in the corner of the room, using an overhead projector to study and examine a map of Remnant from the time of the Great War. Among the students in the corner of the room, Ruby and her friends could recognize the members of team ABRN, and judging by the expression of their faces, they recognized them too, and the two groups quickly smiled and waved to each other. As this was going on, a group of four male students then approached the class sitting in the corner of the room, carrying with them a rather large and heavy looking piece of machinery or equipment that they then set down on the floor next to the students.

"That took a while, but we finally managed to bring it up here in one piece without breaking it, though Scarlet didn't seem to be help much with that." said one of the four students, who they recognized as Sun Wukong. "Scarlet, you almost broke the dang thing when we were trying to fit it into the elevator and you dropped it on my foot."

"Sorry Sun, but it was so heavy." said the other student, who was Scarlet David. "I lost my grip when Neptune distracted me."

"Oh yeah, sure blame it on me." said the third boy, sarcastically, who was Neptune Vasilias.

"Come on guys, don't start this again." said the fourth boy, Sage Ayana, who was trying to mediate between them. "Forget about that already, we've still got more work to do. It's time for us to go back down and bring up the rest of the equipment. At least be glad that we got the worst of it out of the way first."

The group consisting of the four members of Team SSSN then started to walk away towards the door, passing by Ruby and her friends seemingly without noticing, and then disappeared beyond the doorway. Then, one of the boys, Sun, suddenly did a double take and immediately went back into the room and ran over to them.

"Ruby, Jaune, Ren, Nora, is that you?" asked Sun, sounding surprised.

"Hello Sun." said Ruby, causally.

"I almost didn't even recognize you." said Sun. "I thought my eyes were just playing tricks on me. What are you guys doing here?"

"It's kind of a long story." said Ruby. "So, what are you up to Sun?"

"My team and I, we've been helping out around the school recently with all sorts of things." said Sun. "Ever since the CCT Tower network went offline, things have been pretty chaotic around here, and so some of the older students have been tasked with setting up a local network here at the school. We were bringing in some radio equipment into the tower just now before you showed up."

"You're the only one that seemed to notice us Sun..." said Weiss, somewhat disappointed that Neptune hadn't noticed her at all before leaving.

"After we bring up all the rest of the equipment, we've got some free time." said Sun. "We can talk some more then."

"That's great." said Weiss. "I'm wondering if you could maybe help us with something when you're done. There's something we're looking for in the records archive here, and since you're familiar with Haven, being a student here and all, you might be able to help us find it."

"I'll see what I can do." said Sun.

As the minutes passed, Sun and his team eventually returned to help Ruby and her friends. The two groups of friends did some catching up with each other and explained their situations, getting a better understanding for what they were trying to do, and how things had progressed to where they were now.

"I see, so that's what everyone has been up to these past few months, and I thought we had it rough." said Sun. "I'm glad to know that Blake is still out there somewhere, and that she didn't just leave us behind for no reason."

"Alright, so what was the name of this person you needed to look up?" asked Neptune, joining in. "I'm pretty good with computers, so I can help you there."

"This sounds like the perfect job for me and Neptune." said Sun. "With our expert detective skills, we'll definitely be able to help you dig up some information on them."

"It's Cinder Fall." said Ruby. "She and her team had claimed to be students from Haven Academy of Mistral when they were participating in the Vytal Festival. We need to know if that's true or not. She's the one responsible for everything that happened at Beacon. Finding out more about Cinder will help us get to the bottom of this, if that's even her real name that is."

"Okay, let's see, Cinder Fall." Neptune typed out her name into the Haven Academy student registry database as he said it, and then he looked at the results. "Well, it looks as though ours suspicions were right. There was no student named Cinder Fall who was attending Haven Academy when she claimed to be. The same thing goes for her team mates. They were all probably using aliases." Neptune took a few moments to skim through some of the other results that had shown up, and then noticed something. "But wait, it's telling me that there was a student here by that name in the past, almost twenty years ago."

"Twenty years ago?" asked Weiss. "Could they possibly be the same person? See if you can find any pictures of her, like registration photos or graduation pictures."

Neptune clicked on one of the results and up came a picture of a girl who looked to be about Ruby's age with a very cute and innocent appearance, and she bared a striking resemblance to Cinder Fall, although much younger.

"That's weird." said Hans. "Could it be a relative?"

"No, that's her." said Ruby, with a strong certainty in her voice. "I couldn't forget that face anywhere."

"I guess she wasn't lying about being Haven at least, though it's probably only half the truth." said Hans. "They say the best lies are those with some element of truth mixed into them. So she attended Haven and become and Huntress here. What other sorts of stuff does it say about her?"

"It looks like she had quite a distinguished past." said Neptune. He looked at the titles of all the records, files, journals and news reports regarding Cinder Fall and read them out loud. "Star pupil Cinder Fall Achieves Top of Her Class at Haven Academy, Becoming a Model student". "Student Cinder Fall and Her Team Achieve Victory for Haven Academy in the 30th Vytal Festival, Held in Mistral". "Student Cinder Fall Graduates from Haven Academy as a Huntress with Top Honors".

"How does someone like that end up going so wrong?" asked Ruby. "From the sound of it, she had her whole life ahead of her."

"Some of these news reports from later years seem to paint a different picture." said Neptune, who continued to read out the titles of the news articles. "Huntress Cinder Fall Defeats a Roving Horde of Grimm to Prevent the Destruction of a River Dam, Averting a Major Disaster, But Loses Two Team Mates". "Rebel Insurrection Breaks Out in Mistral, Causing Mass Destruction, With Many Left Dead or Homeless in its Wake". "Huntress Cinder Fall Organizes and Rallies the Militia Forces of Mistral For a Counteroffensive, Completely Wiping Out the Rebels After Losing her Own Family in the Process". "Huntress Cinder Fall, Hailed as a Hero for Ending the Rebel Insurrection in Mistral Mysteriously Disappears Without a Trace."

"It seems to me like her life just completely fell apart after a while." said Hans. "It was one tragedy after another."

"I had no idea Cinder Fall had this sort of a past." said Ruby, shocked.

As the group sat there looking through the archives and databases for more information on Cinder Fall, they started to learn much more about her, and began to piece together a picture of what her life might have been like in her early years, and what had happened to her in the past to make her the way she was now.

* * *

 _*flashback*_

The story of Cinder Fall's life began quite differently than one would come to expect when looking at how she turned. The woman known as Cinder Fall was born in the Kingdom of Mistral almost forty years ago. Having lost her parents early in life and become an orphan, Cinder was raised by her aunt and uncle, who loved her and almost viewed her as their own child. She dreamed of one day becoming a Huntress, and once she was old enough she inevitably applied to Haven Academy in Mistral, and was accepted almost immediately. During the days of her youth, Cinder Fall was a much different person than she is now. This cute and innocent school girl of Haven Academy was actually once much like Ruby Rose was during her days at Beacon, filled with the same happy, cheery enthusiasm that she once had. This infectiously bubbly personality of Cinder's always seemed to continuously motivate her to follow her dreams and aspirations no matter what, and nothing ever seemed to keep her down.

As the years at Haven Academy passed, Cinder's abilities grew exponentially, like that of a true prodigy, and she excelled in all of her classes. She became one of the most skilled Huntresses at Haven Academy, and she was looked upon as an exemplary student and role model. She had many friends there, and was well liked by nearly everyone, both student and teacher alike. It was also during her years at Haven Academy that Cinder would meet the person who would one day be the love of her life and future husband. He was a boy named Onyx Rouge, who was also a member of the same Hunter team as Cinder, then known as Team COAL. The members of Team COAL were some of Haven Academy's most skilled and experienced students, and four of them had even succeeded in winning the 30th Vytal Festival that had been held that year in Mistral, with Cinder Fall winning the final round. Eventually, the years passed and the four of them reached the end of their time at Haven Academy and eventually graduated, with Cinder being awarded several prestigious honors.

Even though they were now full-fledged Hunters and no longer students of Haven Academy, the members of Team COAL still remained in close contact in the years that followed, and they often went on missions together when they were called upon to do so. One day however, one of their missions proved to be much more than they had bargained for, and it ended in tragedy, the first of many in Cinder Fall's life. It started when Team COAL had been called upon to stop a horde of Grimm that had attacked a heavily populated town situated near a large river dam. From what they could tell, these Grimm seemed to be attempting to destroy the dam and flood the nearby town, something which Cinder and her team could not allow.

These Grimm however were particularity unusual, being a group of about twenty Grimm with humanoid forms and blank mask-like features where their faces would be. Unbeknownst to them, they had actually come across a rare species of Grimm known as Revenants, which were known to appear every so often in the world of Remnant and cause trouble before disappearing just as mysteriously. Although the Revenant type Grimm didn't seem to be particularity intelligent despite their humanoid forms, Cinder and her team gravely underestimated them. What these Grimm lacked in intelligence, they made up for with their amazing speed and tenacity, which proved deadly when combined with their long razor sharp teeth and claws. It was a hard fought battle, but in the end they managed to kill all of them, and right in the nick of time before they could accomplish their goal, but it came at a great cost. During the battle, Cinder's teammates Aqua and Lavender were killed, having sacrificed themselves to stop the Grimm from destroying the dam.

After the battle, Cinder Fall was hailed as a local hero of sorts by the people of Mistral for her role in stopping a huge potential disaster, but to her and Onyx, the true heroes who had stopped the Grimm had been Aqua and Lavender. The incident had left a hole in the hearts of Cinder and Onyx, but in time they were able to mend their wounds and move on with their lives. Due to their close bond, Cinder and Onyx inevitably fell in love with each other as they grew into adulthood, and they eventually got married, finding happiness with each other. As the years passed, they even started a family and had two children. They had a daughter named Ember, and a son named Ash, and together to four of them peacefully lived out their lives together as one big happy family.

Many years later however, all of that changed on one fateful day; a day in which everything Cinder knew and loved would be destroyed and turned to ash. It happened during a time in which an insurrection was occurring within the Kingdom of Mistral. It was mostly a minor, local conflict, started by a group of insurrectionists from the less developed swampy regions of Mistral who were dissatisfied with how the government was running things, and resented the increasing social divide between the rich and poor. The conflict was nowhere near the level of what had happened during the Great War many decades prior, but it was still nonetheless very troublesome and worrying for the people of Mistral, who feared the brutality and destructive nature of the rebels that were perpetrating the conflict. What had originally started out as noble cause on the part of the insurrectionists and rebels to seek social equality had very quickly devolved into unchecked rioting, pillaging, and looting across the Kingdom of Mistral, and its citizens were right to fear what the conflict would bring if it ever approached too close their homes.

A similar incident had occurred only a few years prior in the Kingdom of Mantle that was still fresh in everyone's minds, which had resulted in the military forces of Atlas having to take over political control of Mantle in order to maintain peace and order there; an occupation that still lasts to this day. The actions of the rebels and insurrectionists in Mistral had gotten so violent and unruly that the ruling council of Mistral had decided to deploy troops to suppress the insurrection and restore peace. Recently, the fighting had started to come very close to where it was that Cinder and her family lived. The people of Cinder's village were always afraid that the fighting might reach them sooner or later, and eventually their biggest fears came true. On that day Cinder was on her way home, returning from a mission she had gone on as a Huntress, and upon approaching the village where she lived, she saw smoke, fire, and devastation everywhere she looked, as rebels and insurrectionists were attacking everything in sight. Upon seeing this, Cinder was horrified and immediately began to run home, fearing the worst for her family. When Cinder finally reached her home at the edge of the village, she found it completely in ruins.

"Ember, Ash, Onyx!" Cinder began to call out, desperately searching for her family.

There was no response, and she entered the burnt and collapsed remains of her home. She looked around inside, and was utterly horrified by what she found. Laying on the floor of her home were two burnt corpses; that of her daughter Ember and her son Ash. Filled with shock and unable to bear the sight, Cinder ran back outside.

"No, what have they done!" Cinder screamed out in agony. "Why would those monsters do this?!"

Cinder began to frantically search for her husband Onyx, and found him lying on the ground nearby, bleeding to death.

"Onyx!" she yelled out as she ran over to him and lifted his body into her arms.

"I'm sorry Cinder." said Onyx, coughing up blood. "I tried to stop them, the insurrectionists. I did the best I could, but there were just too many of them. I didn't stand a chance. After they were done pillaging, they decided to just leave me for dead since I had put up the most resistance. But Ember and Ash, they're gone..."

"Don't speak Onyx." said Cinder. "Hang in there, I'm going to go get help."

"It's too late for that Cinder." said Onyx. "I guess I'm going to be seeing Aqua and Lavender now. You have to leave this place Cinder. Find the militia and regroup with them. Push the rebels back from here and out of our village...

As Onyx closed his eyes for the final time, Cinder could feel the life leave his body. Cinder could feel her heart breaking. She was now alone in the world, and had lost everything she loved and held dear in a sudden and senseless tragedy. Distraught with her current situation and not knowing how to process it all, she broke down into tears. As she cried, Cinder failed to notice that out from the forest behind her home, several rebels and insurrectionists were beginning to emerge, searching for survivors to loot from, and upon noticing Cinder they quickly surrounded her.

"We've found another one." said one of the rebels. "What should we do with her boss?"

"Just get rid of her." said another rebel. "We'll see if there's still anything of value around here. Her coming back here despite the danger must be a sign of that."

As they began to point their weapons at her, Cinder could feel an intense rage beginning to boil up inside her and consume her whole, like a dark flame.

"Do you people have any idea what you've done..." said Cinder, seething with anger.

"We're just taking back what we rightfully deserve." said one of the rebels. "All the wealth that you rich city folks have been hording for yourselves all these years."

"That's why you did all of this?" asked Cinder, furious. "This was a nothing but a simple farming village. It's never had anything of value that was worth taking. You killed all of these innocent people for nothing, and all because of your misdirected, self-righteous anger. Because of you, my husband and children are dead..."

"Did we do that?" asked one of the rebels, mockingly. "We've come across so many people here in this village. It's not like we can remember everyone we've killed."

"You filthy swamp rats!" Cinder yelled in rage.

Cinder finally felt herself snap and let go of her self-control. Suddenly, through the power of her Semblance, an intense flame erupted from all around Cinder's body, spreading outwards in every direction and instantly turning all of the nearby rebels and insurrectionists into piles of ash. Stunned and caught off guard by the sudden burst of power from Cinder, the remaining rebels and insurrectionists began to raise their weapons towards her in fear and began firing. None of their shots were able to hit her. With speed comparable to that of a demon, she started to kill them all one by one with her weapon, burning with intense rage and showing them no mercy. Those that were able to avoid her began to scatter in all directions, fleeing from Cinder, who had now become a demon of vengeance that sought to punish them for their wicked deeds. Cinder continued to track them down, and as she did so, she came across various survivors from the village, as well as members of the local militia who had been sent to help. Together they all rallied together and united under Cinder Fall, and with minimal effort they were able to push the rebels and insurrectionists out of the village. They did not leave a single one alive. Not long after that, the insurrection as a whole was quickly and effectively squashed by the forces of Mistral, and all of the surviving rebels and insurrectionists were captured and brought to justice for their crimes. Peace had returned to the Kingdom of Mistral, but on the inside, Cinder felt empty and dead. It felt as though a part of her had died, but on the other hand, it also felt as though a part of her had been reborn, as if she had been baptized by the fires of her hatred and rage.

Later that night, Cinder sat alone outside the ruins of her home, staring up into the night sky at the shattered moon and still crying, no longer knowing what to do with her life. On the ground beside her were three graves, which she had dug for her husband and children, and had buried them herself in. The incident from earlier in the day still didn't quite feel real to Cinder, as if the whole thing were nothing more than a bad dream that she would soon wake up from. In her mind, she began to question how it was that someone could do something so cruel and ruthless to their fellow human beings, and wondered whether humans really were any better than the Grimm were.

"Human beings are so cruel aren't they?" said a mysterious voice from behind Cinder. "No other creature in this world is capable of committing such atrocities against their own kind, not even the Grimm, but Humans readily slaughter each other all time for even the most trivial of reasons, as if it were nothing but a game to them."

Startled by the sudden presence she had failed to notice, Cinder quickly turned around to find where the voice had come from. To her surprise, what she saw standing behind her was a strange humanoid female creature shrouded in all black, with pale white skin and hair. It look very human-like, but something about it vaguely reminded her of the humanoid Grimm creatures she and her team had once encountered many years ago on their mission to prevent the destruction the river dam. Cinder jumped, feeling frightened and confused by the sudden appearance this strange creature, unsure of whether it was a human or a Grimm.

"Who are you?" asked Cinder, drawing her weapon, the fear in her voice palpable. "What are you?"

"I am Salem, Queen of the Night." said the creature. "Do not worry, you have nothing to fear from me child."

"Are you a Grimm, or a human?" asked Cinder, lowering her weapon and proceeding with caution.

"I guess you could say that I'm somewhat of both, and also that I'm neither." said Salem.

"Why would a being like you come here to a place like this?" asked Cinder. "There's nothing here that would possibly interest a Grimm like you."

"Actually, there." said Salem. "I am here because called me to this place."

"Called you?" asked Cinder, confused. "I did no such thing. I've never even met you before."

"Oh, I'm certain that the presence I felt today was indeed yours." said Salem. "There's no mistaking that powerful aura of despair. Even now you're still emanating it as strongly as you did before."

"My despair?" asked Cinder, confused.

"You're a skilled Huntress, are you not?" asked Salem. "By now you should know that the Creatures of Grimm are attracted to powerful negative emotions such fear, anger, hatred, sadness, despair, greed, and envy, just to name a few. The stronger these feelings are among humans, the stronger and more numerous the types of Grimm that it will attract. You're despair must have been very great indeed if it was able to call out to me and reach me in my domain. It's been a very long time since someone has last done that. For you to be able to do that all on your own is an impressive feat. The turmoil of your heart was like a dark maelstrom, filled with all of humanity's darkest emotions and desires. I was so captivated and mesmerized by it that that I had to see for myself who it was coming from. For someone to have fallen as far as you did, you truly must have suffered a great deal."

"You could feel all of that?" asked Cinder, surprised.

"Yes, all of your heart was laid bare to me in that moment." said Salem. "I could see and feel everything."

"Then you know what happened." said Cinder, mournfully. "My family, they're all gone. My husband and my children..."

"I take it that must be them?" said Salem, gesturing to the three nearby grave markers. "I can sympathize with the pain of your loss. I myself have children four of my own, whom I love very dearly. I would be devastated if something were to ever happen to them."

"Why have I been cursed with such terrible misfortune?" asked Cinder. "My life has been filled with nothing but tragedy, one after another. I started with nothing, as nothing, but I was finally able to find some measure of happiness in my life, only for it to all be destroyed in an instant. Now I'm back to how I was in the very beginning; a nobody, with nothing. Is this my purpose in life? To suffer endlessly, and always be denied the happiness that I seek? Am I being punished for something?"

"Such is the world we inhabit." said Salem, reaching down to put her hand on Cinder's cheek, as if she were a mother consoling her child. "It's not you that's to blame, it's this cruel, rotten world that humans have created. It is a world that has become corrupted by their greed and arrogance. All they do is kill each other and destroy everything in their path. They are like a sickness that is poisoning this world. As a Huntress, you have been sworn to protect them from the Grimm, but even you must sometimes wonder whether they are really even worth protecting at all. You've seen for yourself what they really are, and through the years you've likely come to know realize true ugly natures. Humans are even worse than the Grimm."

Cinder could feel herself beginning to calm with Salem's touch. Cinder could not seem to figure what exactly this strange being Salem's true intentions were. Was Salem trying to lull her into a false sense of comfort and security, and then try to kill her, like any normal Grimm would do, or was Salem trying to befriend and comfort her. Could the Grimm really be as bad as humans have made them out to be? The Grimm now standing before was nothing like what she had been led to believe about them ever since she was a child. Part of Salem's persona felt cold and empty, while another part felt sympathetic and caring. The more Salem spoke to her, the more Cinder began to feel drawn to her, as if she was someone who truly understood her and felt her pain.

"What is the meaning of my life then if everything I've ever done up until now was all for nothing?" asked Cinder. "What purpose do I have now?"

"You don't have to serve anyone in order to feel like you have a purpose, especially those heartless and vile creatures known as humans." said Salem. "However, if meaning is what you seek in your life, I might be able to help you find a new one. You could become a part of something much greater, a noble cause. I seek to make this world a better place by ridding it of the stain that humans have wrought upon in, and return it to the way it should be, the way it once was. Do you perhaps wish to join me in this cause?"

"Make the world a better place?" asked Cinder, curious and intrigued. "Is such a thing really possible? Do you really have the power to do something like that?"

"I don't have the power now, but I will soon." said Salem. "I can't do it alone though. I will need allies to help me in this endeavor."

"If it really will change this world for the better, then I might be interested." said Cinder. "I'd like to know more about this cause of yours Salem..."

Following this encounter with Salem, Cinder wholeheartedly joined her cause and became a part of her plans for Remnant. Salem took Cinder under her wing, and as the years passed by, Cinder began to resent humankind more and more as she continued to realize how fundamentally evil and flawed they were; feelings which Salem further cultivated within her. Cinder no longer had any love for human beings, and had no qualms about unleashing the Creatures of Grimm upon them to attack and kill as part of Salem's master plan, considering it to be retribution and punishment for all of their evil deeds. There were however some human beings that Cinder encountered during her years serving Salem that she found to be more pitiable than others. These humans were often social outcasts and others who had suffered at the hands of their own kind, and she sometimes tried to recruit them to help with Salem's goal, seeing them as kindred spirits. Two of these humans in particular were the thief Emerald Sustrai, and the assassin Mercury Black. As Cinder began to shape and mold them so that they would further benefit Salem's cause, she began to form somewhat of a bond with them. Little did Cinder realize, these two had in a way subconsciously become like replacements to her for the two children she had lost all those years ago, when her former life in Mistral had ended.

 _*flashback end*_

* * *

It was now much later in the day, and Ruby, Weiss, Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Hans were still in the CCT Tower looking through and studying the results of their search query on Cinder Fall. Since it was the late afternoon, many of the people who were in the CCT Tower earlier had now left and gone home for the day. Sage and Scarlet had already left earlier, and now Sun and Neptune were starting to leave.

"Well, it's about time me and Neptune started heading back home now." said Sun, yawning. "We're exhausted after all the work we did today. Anyways, I hope you found what you're looking for. Oh, and one more thing, if any of you still want to become official Huntsmen and Huntresses, you're more than welcome to sign up for Haven Academy to finish your training. We'd love to have you all here. Well, bye guys."

"We'll give it some thought." said Ruby.

"We should meet up again sometime and hang out." said Neptune. "We'll see you next time."

"Bye Neptune." said Weiss. "We'll look forward to it.

With that, Sun and Neptune left the room and took the elevator back down to the bottom of the tower, leaving the six of them there to contemplate their next move.

"Well that was some pretty depressing stuff we found." said Jaune. "Judging by these stories and articles about Cinder, it seems that her life started out really great and promising, but then after a certain point everything just started going downhill for her and it all ended in tragedy."

"After that, all traces of Cinder just seemingly vanished, only for her to turn back up now." said Weiss. "Whatever happened in between now and then for her to align herself with the Creatures of Grimm, we can only guess at." Weiss then noticed that there seemed to be tears coming from Ruby's eyes as she listened. "Ruby, are you crying?"

"Waaahhh, it was so sad." said Ruby, getting overly emotional. "I didn't know Cinder had such a tragic past. She lost her whole family and her teammates too. I never would have guessed she and I were so much alike at the start."

"Where do we go from here?" asked Jaune. "We found out more about Cinder, but that still doesn't answer the question of who she's working for, or how she aligned herself with the Grimm, or how she even knows about the Four Maidens."

"Cinder is just one small piece of the puzzle, but there's no telling how deep the rabbit hole goes." said Ren. "I think we've learned just about everything we can from here. It's about time we got going too."

"Before we go, there's something I want to check out." said Hans. "It shouldn't take long." Hans then pulled out his sword and showed it to everyone. "Since my weapon is one of the Twelve Legendary Weapons Remnant, and they were created here in Mistral long ago, I've been wondering if I might be able to find out anything about them from the database here. If these databases do indeed contain almost everything there is to know about Mistral and its history, then they might have something on them."

"That sounds like a great idea." said Jaune, also pulling out his weapon. "I'll join you too. Maybe it will even say something about how to get them to work properly."

"Knock yourselves out." said Ruby. "The rest of us will be outside. We need some fresh air."

"I'll stay here and help you search too." said Weiss. "I think I might find this interesting as well."

Ruby, Ren, and Nora then started to leave and make their way outside, where they waited in the courtyard of the school below.

* * *

 **Wow, this turned out to be a pretty morbid and depressing chapter concerning Cinder Fall's backstory. Thinking back on it, this is probably one of the saddest and most heart wrenching things I've ever read, and it really makes me feel bad for Cinder and makes her into more of a sympathetic character for me.**

 **After coming up with all of that, I just can't find it in me to hate Cinder anymore. I can never look at her the same way again, now knowing what I know about her past. Cinder is a broken woman who lost everything she ever loved, and had it literally turn to ash, very befitting of her name Cinder Fall. For the time being, this will be my head canon version of what Cinder Fall's backstory is, until her official backstory is finally revealed in the actual show.**

 **It's pretty ironic that it is the Fall Maiden's powers that Cinder Fall ends up stealing. In the tale of the Four Maidens, it was the Fall Maiden who taught the old man to be happy for everything he has, while Cinder on the other hand is someone who lost everything she had to be happy about, which is almost the exact opposite situation. It's almost poetic, and makes her a very fitting host for the Fall Maiden's powers.**

 **I'm pretty sure that by now most of you have probably already noticed the naming theme that I used for Cinder and her family. All of them have names pertaining to fire, just like Cinder's name does. The names of Cinder's children, Ember and Ash, are both synonyms of Cinder's name, while Onyx's name is a little less obvious. An Onyx is a black gemstone, while his last name is Rouge, which is French for the color red. The colors of his name, black and red, are symbolic of a burning coal, which also connects to the name of Cinder's team, Team COAL.**


	9. Episode 6: The Brothers Grimm

**Okay, here it is finally, Episode 6 of the story. This chapter will probably be a very long one, but it is also a very important one for the story, and now we'll finally get to see some action and fighting in real time. Think of this chapter as sort of a treat to celebrate the premiere of the actual RWBY Volume 4. I was actually hoping to get this chapter out before Volume 4 premiered, but the whole process of writing it took much longer than I expected. I'm almost certain that if it hadn't been for that setback that occurred while I was writing the previous chapter, then I probably would have been able to release this chapter before RWBY Volume 4 premiered.**

* * *

Night was fast approaching, and the group of Ruby, Weiss, Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Hans were now making their way through the countryside near the outskirts of Haven City, entering into what appeared to be more of a swampy type of wilderness and terrain that was commonly found throughout the countryside of Mistral.

"We spent the whole day looking everywhere for Zwei." said Ruby, telling the group about another story from her childhood to help pass the time. "I couldn't stop crying. We couldn't find him anywhere. I was afraid that he might have gotten hit by a car."

"But then everything turned out okay in the end." said Hans. "Yang eventually found him, asleep under the couch. Since Zwei is such a small dog, he would always hide in some of the weirdest places whenever he slept. It would sometimes cause us a lot of trouble and worrying whenever we couldn't find him after a while."

"I guess it's a good thing that nothing bad ended up happening to Zwei." said Ruby. "I'd feel terrible if we lost him too."

As the group continued to converse, they entered a village and proceeded to follow the road that led through it, however, they quickly started to notice that something was amiss. The entire village was seemingly deserted, and there were signs of chaos and devastation everywhere, almost as though its inhabitants had been forced to flee in the wake of a sudden and deadly catastrophe.

"What in the world happened here?" asked Ruby, surprised by the state of the village. "It looks like a tornado came through this place."

"Where is everyone?" asked Jaune. "If some kind of disaster happened here, then we should have at least heard something about it, especially since this village is so close to Haven."

"Whatever happened here, it happened recently." said Ren, examining their surroundings.

"I have a really bad feeling about this." said Hans, feeling a cold chill in the air, as if somewhere in the very back of his mind, something about the atmosphere of this village felt very familiar.

Suddenly, the sounds of movement could be heard, and all throughout the village Grimm became to emerge from various hiding places, many of them with strange, vaguely humanoid forms and hideously frightening grins made up of razor sharp teeth on their otherwise blank mask-like faces.

"There's Grimm here!" exclaimed Hans, alerting the group to the creatures, and they quickly began to form a circle with their backs to the center, readying themselves for battle.

"What kind of Grimm are these?" asked Ruby. "I've never seen anything like them before."

"Could these actually be Revenants?" said Weiss, with a curious tone. "I once read something about them before. They're supposedly a very rare type of Grimm in Remnant that shows up every once in a while, but I never thought they were real."

"They're really creepy looking." said Jaune.

As the group of about twenty Revenant-type Grimm approached them, it almost seemed as though they were trying to mimic their speech by repeating whatever words they heard Ruby and her friends say, just like how a baby would imitate the speech of its mother for the first time while trying to learn how to speak.

"They sound really creepy too." added Ruby, commenting on the anguished and broken sounding speech of the Revenants.

Strangely enough, the Revenants then started to move away to the side and clear a path towards the group as they got closer, almost as though they were expecting someone or something to appear from behind them. Surely enough, two dark humanoid figures then came into view and began walking down the path towards the group. These two figures looked even more human-like than the Revenants, possessing very distinct features. They looked like something that was a cross between a human and a Grimm, but not quite either. One of them was gaunt and thinly built, and had an almost corpse-like appearance, while the other was more meaty and heavy built, having a very bestial appearance. The two then turned their attention towards Ruby and her friends, with a look of excitement and blood-lust in their eyes.

"Look what has wondered into our feast brother." said the first of the two Grimm-like beings. "They don't seem to be from around here, otherwise they would have run off with the rest of the villagers."

"They're Huntsmen and Huntresses by the looks of it." said the second of the two Grimm-like beings. "They must have come here to spoil our fun."

"Are those Grimm?" asked Jaune, sounding very shocked. "They're talking..."

"Are you the ones responsible for this?" asked Weiss, addressing the two beings. "Where did all of the people of this village go?"

"We ate them." said the first Grimm, very causally, as if it were a normal thing for him to say. "We just had ourselves a little meal. Think of it as sort of like a thinning of the herd. The villagers who did manage to escape fled from here, and those that couldn't, we ate them for dinner."

"Who are you?" asked Weiss. "Are you both Grimm? I've never seen Grimm like you before."

"Yes, you could say that is what you humans would classify us as." said the first Grimm. "I am Dracul, and this here is my brother Lycaon. We are the Brothers Grimm. It's only proper that you should know our names, since your about to become our next meal."

"You're feast ends here." said Weiss, pointing her rapier towards them. "As students of Beacon Academy, it is our duty to stop the Creatures of Grimm like you from doing whatever they please in Remnant."

"So they're students of Beacon." said Lycaon, the second Grimm. "That must mean that they're some of Ozpin's brats."

"Indeed they are." said Dracul. "Mother will be most intrigued to hear about this. We should take all of their heads back home with us and present them to her. That'll be sure to get the attention of that coward Ozpin and draw him out of hiding."

Upon hearing all of this, everyone immediately jumped to high alert and got their weapons ready for battle. Ruby however noticed that Hans' hands seemed to be shaking profusely as he tried to hold his weapon steady.

"There's two of them now..." Ruby could hear Hans whisper under his breath.

"Well, look who it is." said Dracul, finally noticing Hans within the group. "I remember you from that night at Beacon. You're Hans Quicksilver. So, have you come here for round two?"

"Everyone be careful!" shouted Hans. "Don't underestimate these two Grimm. They're way stronger than any you've ever faced before."

"So it was you then." said Ruby, finally beginning to piece things together. "You must be the one that hurt Hans. I knew there was more to what happened that night than what he told me. So you're the one that killed his team and mentally scarred him to the point that he shakes in his sleep, like how he is now."

Ruby gripped her weapon tightly in anger, and the Grimm then turned his attention to her.

"Ah, and you must be Ruby Rose I presume." said Dracul.

"How does he know our names?" asked Hans, now feeling even more frightened by the fact that a Grimm knew something personal like that about him.

"Don't you remember?" said Dracul. "When I tried to devour your essence, I was also able to peer into your memories. I know quite a bit about you now. All your strengths, all your weaknesses, all that you love, and all that you fear. I know you have a strong bond with that girl. I also know much about you Ruby Rose. Not only were you in Hans' memories, but you were also in the memories of another Huntress that I once killed and devoured. You look just like her."

"Don't tell me." said Ruby, feeling the anger starting to build up inside her. "Did you have something to do with that?"

"What if I did?" asked Dracul, mockingly.

Her anger now getting the better of her, Ruby then began charging towards the Grimm with her weapon ready, and the others soon followed after her. The two Grimm brothers prepared for battle, with Dracul summoning his black shadow-like weapons into his hands, and the pack of Revenants with the brothers also joined in. The two groups clashed and a very fierce battle began, and in the ensuing chaos everyone was separated from one another.

* * *

As a result of the confusion and disarray of the battle, Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora had found themselves separated from Ruby and Hans, and were now in a more forested area near the edge of the village, facing off against Lycaon and a handful of Revenants.

"These Revenant Grimm are fast." said Jaune, panting. "We can barely keep up with them."

"We can't even get close enough to attack that other Grimm that's probably the one commanding them." said Nora.

The Revenants charged at the four of them with incredible speed, almost like a group of blurry figures that dashed and ricocheted from place to place. The group had resorted to fighting with their backs turned towards each other in a close circle, so as to minimize the opportunities for the Revenants to get the jump on them from behind.

"We'll have to focus all of our efforts on these Revenants one at a time if we want to kill them." said Weiss. "Otherwise they'll just keep avoiding our attacks while having us cornered like this."

"Is everyone ready?" asked Jaune.

"Ready!" everyone else said in unison.

With that, the four of them scattered off in different directions, running around in an attempt to confuse the Revenants. Two of them began to chase after Weiss, and with that Jaune, Ren and Nora locked on to their targets and decided that those two would be the ones to focus on first. Weiss then immediately turned around and started to rush towards the Revenants pursuing her, while Jaune, Ren, and Nora made their way towards Weiss to back her up. As Weiss lunged towards the Revenants, they immediately put some distance between themselves and Weiss, only to be met by Nora striking her hammer hard against the ground next to them, forcing them to turn around in the other direction.

In the new direction they towards, they were met by Jaune and Ren, who also made a dash towards them with their weapons. As Jaune attempted to stab one of the Revenants, it tried to dodge, only to be stabbed through from behind by Weiss, having left itself wide open to her. Now that Weiss had pierced it with her rapier, Jaune followed suit by stabbing his own sword into the Revenant, and the two of them then proceeded to move their swords at opposite angles through the Revenant's body, slicing it in half. The other of the two Revenants that Ren now fought was met with a similar fate. As it attempted to avoid the strike of Ren's punch, it found itself struck from behind by Nora's hammer, and Ren's fist connected with it from the other side, sandwiching it in between and causing it to explode into a black shadowy substance due to the concussive force of both of their attacks combined.

"We just might have found their weakness." said Weiss. "It seems that whenever these Grimm move, they move so fast that they can't immediately stop because of all the momentum they've built up, so a surprise attack coming from another direction will catch them off guard before they can avoid it. If we're going to take them all out, we're going to have to fight them together rather than taking them on individually. We'll have to split up into pairs. Ren and Nora, you two stick together. Jaune, you're with me."

The group looked around the battlefield and counted that six more Revenants remained, as well as the Grimm Lord Lycaon, who for the time being was just watching them from a distance.

"Looks like it will three Grimm for each pair." said Jaune. "The odds still don't look too good for us, but we'll just have to go with it and wing it as best as we can. On top of that, the big guy over there hasn't even started fighting yet. Why is he just standing there and letting the other Grimm do all the work? Is he studying our attacks?"

"We'll get to him when the time comes." said Ren. "Now we have to worry about these guys."

"Remember what Professor Port taught us." said Weiss. "When faced with a large number of opponents, divide and conquer."

As the six Revenants closed in on them, the group broke off, with the two pairs each heading off in opposite directions. Both pairs of fighters picked one Revenant as their target out of the three they had to face, and they got to work separating it from its other two companions. Ren began by first firing with his pistols towards the legs one of the Revenants, piercing them and causing it to stumble and slow down, and as soon as it did Nora managed to catch up to it and use her hammer to break its legs. The Revenant was then brought to its knees, and before it could make an attempt to get back up, Ren had already reached it and used the blades on his pistols to decapitate it.

Jaune proceeded attack his Revenant target head on, and used his shield to block the slashes of its long dagger-like claws, which left scratches all over the shield's surface. Seeing an opportunity, Jaune held up his shield and charged, so as to block the Revenant's field of vision, and with its sight focused on Jaune's approaching shield, it was unable to anticipate being impaled from behind by Weiss' rapier. Jaune immediately stepped to the side as Weiss pulled the trigger on her weapon, using a shot of fire-infused Dust to blast a hole straight through the Revenant's chest.

"Four more to go." said Jaune. "If only we can make it that long."

Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora then proceeded to find their next targets, and began the same maneuver as before, this time however, it didn't go as planned. Right as they started their maneuvers, the Revenants were able to anticipate the patterns of their attacks. As a result they began to use much more erratic movements than before, allowing them to stay one step ahead and avoid having the same fate befall them as did their four other companions. The Revenants were starting to learn at a alarmingly fast pace, and by using the experience they had gained in battle they were able to change their strategy and method of attack in order to adapt to their opponents.

"It seems they're much smarter than the average Grimm." said Ren. "This is going to be much harder than we thought."

"So you've started to notice, have you?" said Lycaon, finally speaking. "They've been studying your movements, just as I have." The Revenants then proceeded to move away to the side and clear the area, as Lycaon finally stepped forward into enter the fray. "I've waited long enough. I'm ready to fight you now. Hopefully you'll at least provide me with somewhat of a challenge."

Lycaon's body then began to morph and change shape, contorting and twisting until he took on the form of a more wolf-like Grimm, similar in appearance to that of a Beowulf, although his color scheme remained the same as before.

"When I'm finished with you, I'll be picking my teeth clean with your bones." said Lycaon, now with a more menacing and feral sounding voice.

Lycaon rushed dashed with incredible speed, appearing almost as a blur to Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora, who did their best to avoid his claws and fangs as he zig-zagged his way throughout the battle field.

"This is insane!" yelled Jaune. "I can barely even see him, much less avoid him!"

As soon as he had said the words, Lycaon was hurtling towards Jaune, forcing him to suddenly lean backwards as if playing a game of limbo to avoid having his head taken off. With his jaws wide open, Lycaon's path put him on course to slam into a tree, but rather than crashing into it, he bit straight through the trunk with his teeth and passed through to the other side.

"Talk about jaw strength." said Jaune. "How does that not give him a toothache?"

Recovering in no time at all, Lycaon was already heading back towards their direction, and as he went for a pass at Ren, Nora struck him with her hammer, sending him flying into the canopy of a nearby tree.

"That was a pretty good hit." said Lycaon, regaining his bearings and quickly landing on a tree branch. "But not good enough."

Lycaon again began to shape shift and transform, this time taking on a more ape-like appearance and form, similar to that of a Beringal type Grimm. He then jumped down from the tree and landed with a powerful thud, leaving a small crater in the ground. He began anew his charge towards then, now attacking them with his powerful fists, attempting to hit them. Even though they managed to avoid them, whatever was hit by Lycaon's fists would shatter from the explosive force, whether it be the trunk of a tree or the ground at their feet. Seeing an opening, Nora struck Lycaon in side of his torso with as much force as she could muster, however to Nora's surprise, nothing seemed to happen. Lycaon didn't budge an inch, and just stood there as if nothing had happened at all, the attack having had no effect.

"Is that all you've got?" said Lycaon, sounding disappointed. "You're going to have to do much better than that. At this rate, I'll be done with all of you before my brother finishes with those other two companions of yours. He has a really bad habit of playing with his food."

* * *

As Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora fought with the Grimm Lord Lycaon, Ruby and Hans found themselves in a much more dire predicament back at the village. They were now fighting against the Grimm Lord Dracul, and accompanying him were the rest of the Revenants; about twelve in total.

"It looks like we really got short end of the stick this time Hans." said Ruby.

"Hopefully the others are doing better than we are." said Hans. "These things are fast, and deadly."

"But not fast enough." said Ruby. "This is nothing. We've trained together for years to increase our speed, so we should definitely be able to match the speed of these Grimm and take them out."

"It'll be just like practicing our old routine." said Hans, smiling.

With that, Ruby and Hans rushed towards the Revenants in what looked to be a blur, slashing at them with their weapons. They clashed with the Revenants, blocking each of their attacks and returning the favor with their own. This exchange continued on until they were each able to find an opening, and from there they sliced the Revenants they were fighting into pieces. Despite taking out two Revenants, several more still remained, and the rest began to rapidly converge on them, all while also having to defend against Dracul, who continuously harassed the two fighters with attacks from the two shadow-like swords he wielded in his hands. The relentless stream of attacks coming from the large group of opponents was starting to wear Ruby and Hans down.

"Getting tired already?" asked Dracul, sounding disappointed. "I'm just getting started."

As another Revenant approached Hans, he changed his sword into its flexible snake-like form, taking his opponent by surprise and piercing its head, after which the blade stitched itself through several other parts of its body. All it took was a single tug on the hilt of his sword by Hans and the Revenant was shredded to pieces by Kusanagi. The Revenant that attacked Ruby was also dispatched with equal efficiency as it tried to block the blade of her scythe with its claws, allowing her to spin the handle around and slice the Revenant vertically from the groin up to its head with the sharp pointed blade on the other end of the handle.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this." said Hans.

"Don't relax just yet." said Ruby. "Here come some more."

Two more Revenants now approached them, attacking them both at the same time, forcing Ruby and Hans to back each other up. Seeing a way to even the score, Hans wrapped the snake-like blade of Kusanagi around the legs of one of the Revenants, preventing it from moving, which allowed Ruby just enough time to rush forward and slice it in half. After taking that one down, Ruby reflexively turned around and quickly sliced off the legs of the other Revenant, allowing Hans to finish it off by straightening the blade of his sword and slashing the Revenant down the middle.

"We've taken out about half of them now." said Hans, panting from exhaustion. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up for."

"Must I do everything myself?" said Dracul, now sounding annoyed. "Out of the way you useless creatures. This is my fight alone now."

With that, the six remaining Revenants backed away and put some distance between themselves and the three combatants now on the battlefield. Dracul resumed fighting again with a renewed vigor and blood lust, now managing to push Ruby and Hans back and block each of their weapons with his two shadowy swords. As the fight dragged on, Ruby and Hans began to notice that several small, beetle-like Grimm were beginning to sprout from Dracul's skin, almost as if they had been summoned or created by him. These insect-like Grimm then attempted to jump off of Dracul and latch themselves onto Ruby and Hans, after which they tried to bite into their skin in order to drain their aura and essence. The creatures seemed to avoid Ruby for the most part, sensing that her aura was too powerful for them to handle at the moment, and instead attacked Hans, whose aura they sensed was beginning to weaken, almost as if they could sense the fear in him. Hans began to panic, and frantically tried to brush the creatures off of his skin.

"What are these things!" shouted Hans, freaking out. "Are they some kind of parasitic Grimm?"

Hans eventually managed to brush them all off and kill off by stamping on them with his feet, but he could feel his mind beginning to break under the stress, and his fear was beginning to take hold of him again. To Hans, it was starting to feel as though the longer he spent fighting Dracul, the more likely it was that he would lose to him. Finally, his emotions got the better of him and he broke under the strain, charging at Dracul and repeatedly swinging his sword at him in desperation, but to no avail as Dracul dodged and blocked all of his attacks.

"It's useless you know." said Dracul, taunting him. "The more you fear and struggle, the more it feeds into me and makes me stronger."

"Don't listen to him Hans." said Ruby. "You have to calm down. You're doing exactly what he wants. I know he's hurt you and done terrible things to you, but we can't beat him if you let your fear get the better of you."

"Ah, so calm and collected in the heat of battle, just like she was." said Dracul, addressing Ruby. "Nothing ever seemed to break her spirit." Dracul looked up at the sky and looked at the moon. "Looks like the moon is finally out, which means I can use the full extent of my powers now. It's a full moon too, so it should be even more potent tonight. I can finally bring _"her"_ out to play. How about it then Ruby Rose? Let's see if you're anything like her at all..."

Dracul's body began to change and morph as a black shadow-like cloak began to envelop it, twisting and altering his appearance and aura. Hans knew right away what was coming next.

"Close your eyes Ruby!" yelled Hans, desperately trying to hold back the inevitable. "Please don't look!"

It was too late for Hans to do anything about it now. Dracul's transformation had finished, and what stood before then now was the form of Summer Rose in all her splendor and glory.

"It's a trick Ruby!" yelled Hans, still trying desperately, but all in vain, as his pleas to Ruby fell on deaf ears. "It's not real! Don't believe it!"

"No... Why?" Ruby said, dumbfounded. She was in complete and utter shock and disbelief, and at a loss for words. She fell to the ground on her knees, seemingly in defeat. "How can it be? Mom..." She could feel herself starting to cry.

* * *

The group of Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora continued their battle against the Grimm Lord Lycaon, however it did not seem to be going anywhere, and was starting to turn into somewhat of a stalemate for them. Ren and Nora unleashed a barrage of attacks on Lycaon, Nora with her hammer and Ren with his fists, but it didn't seem to be having any effect at all.

"This guy is tanking everything we throw at him!" yelled Nora, frustrated. "It's like he's a walking fortress."

"He seems to be immune to all types physical attacks while in this form." said Ren. "We'll have to try a different approach."

"Twenty." said Lycaon, examining them.

"Twenty?" asked Ren, confused. "Twenty what?

"That's the number of times you and that girl have hit me with your attacks." said Lycaon.

"What of it?" asked Ren. "You were counting?"

"I have absorbed the kinetic energy from at least twenty of your attacks, and stored them within my body." said Lycaon, smiling as though he knew something that they did not. "Are you ready to have all of that combined energy returned back to you in full?"

Lycaon then rushed towards Ren and Nora and began his retaliation. Although he missed with the first attack, with one strike of his fist he was able to create a powerful shock wave that blasted away anything that was nearby.

"Nora, get away from him, quick!" yelled Ren, realizing what was about to happen next.

As Nora attempted to dodge, she was unable to put enough distance between herself and Lycaon fast enough, and despite Lycaon's fist not hitting her directly, the shock wave sent her flying back with incredible force. Nora landed several feet away and continued to roll on the ground until she came to a stop next to a group of bushes, completely unconscious and now out of the fight.

"Nora!" yelled Ren, worried for his teammate.

"You're next boy." said Lycaon, turning his attention to Ren.

As Lycaon ran towards him, the force of his footsteps made small craters in the ground with each and every step, and as he reached the distracted Ren, he sent a punch straight into his gut before he could react, sending him flying away in a similar manner to Nora. This attack however seemed to have much less force than the one before, likely due to the fact that the amount of energy Lycaon had stored within his body from their attacks began to decrease with each successive hit. Ren came to a stop and landed a few feet away from where Nora was, taking a few gasping breaths before passing out next to her.

"Two down, two more to go." said Lycaon, now setting his sights on Weiss and Jaune.

Weiss and Jaune could feel themselves tense up in fear as Lycaon looked their way, causing them to tighten their grip on their weapons. As Lycaon started to make his way towards them, Weiss and Jaune desperately tried to think of a plan.

"What do we do now?" asked Jaune. "This guy is invincible. He just took out Ren and Nora like it was nothing."

"Attacks with kinetic force won't work against him." said Weiss. "Our best option now would be to try cutting him with our swords, or using Dust-based attacks."

Continuing his approach towards them, Lycaon's body began to change and morph again, taking on a different animal form now. This new Grimm form turned him into what appeared to be a muscular bipedal creature that looked like it was half-man and half-lion, similar to a manticore, complete with sharp fangs and claws, and even a mane around its head.

"This is one of my favorite forms to use in battle." said Lycaon. "It should be more than enough to finish off the two of you."

Lycaon came at them again, slashing his claws at Weiss and Jaune with full force as they did their best to block and evade them. One of those attacks came very close to taking off Jaune's face, causing him to instinctively put up his shield to protect himself, resulting in a deep scratch mark being left on it by Lycaon's claws, one which would not be easy to fix and was likely to be permanent.

"You did not just do that!" shouted Jaune, looking at the damage to his trusty shield with a mix of anger and shock. "That was a gift from a friend!"

As Jaune tried his best to hold Lycaon back, Weiss fired several bursts of Dust-based attacks from her rapier, but they all missed their mark. Deciding that she needed to get closer for a better shot, Weiss summoned several glyphs to propel herself through the battlefield in order to increase her speed and reach her intended target, finally launching herself off the trunk of a tree in a horizontal path that sent her flying straight at Lycaon like a missile. With her blade held out in front of her, Weiss was on a direct path for Lycaon's head, however to her surprise, she suddenly came to complete stop in midair as she reached him.

To her shock and surprise, Lycaon had actually caught the blade of her rapier right out of the air with his powerful jaws, holding it there steadfast, even with Weiss still hanging onto it. Before Weiss could react, Lycaon began to violently shake his head back and forth in an attempt to make her let go and send her flying away. Weiss held on for as long as she could, not wanting to lose her rapier, but eventually she lost her grip and was thrown aside, but not before she managed to pull the trigger of her weapon, unleashing the full blast of a fire based Dust attack right into Lycaon's face. Despite being sent a good distance away, Weiss was able to correct her path before reaching the ground and land safely on her feet, keeping her eyes on her opponent. As the cloud of smoke around Lycaon cleared away, Weiss could see him standing there, still holding her weapon in his jaws, but now his fur appeared to be burnt black all over due to the flames, with his mane now having burnt off almost completely, and there was also now a large burn mark across his face, but otherwise he seemed to be perfectly fine. Now with an annoyed look on his face, Lycaon bit down into the blade Myrtenaster with his jaws, snapping the blade in half and causing the weapon fall to ground in pieces.

"What is this guy made of?" exclaimed Weiss, now sounding very frustrated and starting to lose her composure.

"It seems like you humans have started to find some interesting ways to incorporate Dust into your weapons." said Lycaon, now sounding slightly raspy voiced after having inhaled some of the burning Dust earlier. "That was very creative, but it won't be enough to save you now. I'll make you pay for destroying my beautiful mane."

Lycaon began to charging towards Weiss with murderous intent glowing in his red eyes, and as he approached her Weiss found herself frozen in fear, not knowing what to do next. Before he could reach her, a metal object flew through the air, hitting Lycaon square in the face and causing him to jump back. The object in question had been Jaune's shield, who after seeing no other possible use for it had thrown it at him as a last resort to save Weiss. Seeing an opportunity to strike as Lycaon tried to recover from the blow, Jaune rushed forward and slashed him across the chest with his sword, creating a large gash that spewed black blood. The look that appeared on Lycaon's face at that moment seemed to be one of shock.

"That one actually stung a bit." said Lycaon, looking down at his chest and examining the wound, watching as the blood leaking from it began to turn into black mist as it left the gash. "That was no ordinary weapon."

Lycaon looked towards Jaune to find the source of his injury, and saw that his opponent's sword Crocea Mors was now beginning to glow with a faint yellowish aura as he held it in his hands.

"I see, so you possess one of those accursed weapons." said Lycaon, with a hint of contempt in his voice. "The so called Legendary Weapons of Remnant."

"What?" said Jaune, looking down at his sword, surprised to find it emitting such a strange aura that he had never seen before. "It's glowing? But why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" said Lycaon. "The ancient blood lust of the Grimm that sword was created from is starting to bubble to the surface again now that it has come into contact with the aura of a powerful Grimm like me."

"If the sword's aura is starting to resonate due to that Grimm's presence, then that also means..." said Weiss, a thought starting to occur to her.

Weiss quickly reached behind her skirt and unhooked something from the back of her belt. Pulling the object forward, Weiss held in her hands the Walpurgisnacht Wand she had taken with her before leaving on her journey, and was surprised to find that it was now glowing with a mystical purple aura.

"Are they resonating with each other, or are they starting to awaken?" said Weiss, pondering the strange new behavior of their weapons. "Of course, why didn't it occur to me before! With these we might actually still have a chance! It's worth a shot Jaune, so we might as well try it..."

* * *

Ruby sat there on the ground crying, awestruck by the sight of her mother Summer Rose.

"Is that really you mom?" asked Ruby, sobbing. "Are you really here?"

"It is me Ruby." said the sweet voice of the woman as she approached.

"Where did you go?" asked Ruby. "I've missed you so much."

"I know, I've missed you too Ruby." said Summer Rose. "I've been gone for so long, but I'm here for you now."

Summer Rose approached Ruby with her arms spread wide open to hug her, and Ruby ceased all resistance, anticipating her mother's embrace. Blinded by her emotions, Ruby failed to notice the blade that Summer Rose was beginning to pull out of the back of her skirt as she approached her, ready to stab Ruby in the back. Right as she began to raise her blade, Summer Rose suddenly found herself stabbed through the shoulder by a long, snake-like blade, forcing her back from Ruby.

"Snap out of it Ruby!" said Hans, retracting Kusanagi's blade after his attack. "That's not Summer Rose. It's some kind of shadow puppet that Grimm has created with his shape shifting abilities."

"How can that be possible?" asked Ruby. "Everything about her is the same, exactly how I remember being."

"I know it looks and feels real, but you can't fall for his deception." said Hans. "Think back on it Ruby. You remember don't you? The day we received the news that your mother had died while out on a mission? All they had found of her was her cloak and a pile of bones. We were there at the funeral and watched them bury what was left of her that the hilltop. She's as dead as can be. There's no way that this can her."

"Aw, you're no fun." said Summer Rose. "Why'd you have to go and ruin the surprise?"

"You sick, vile creature!" shouted Hans, now angry. "Why would you do something like this? It's not enough for you to just physically defeat an opponent, but you also have to start playing with their emotions too? Why would you go this far?"

"You of all people should know the answer to that question by now." said Summer Rose, her voice now becoming that of Dracul's. "I'm a Grimm. That's just what I do. I feed on the despair you humans feel in order to make myself stronger and gain sustenance."

Another blade now swung at Summer Rose to attack her, forcing her to jump out of the way in order to avoid being sliced in half. This time, the blade had belonged to Ruby, who now seemed to be back to normal.

"What the matter Ruby?" asked Summer Rose, now going back to using the same sweet voice she had used earlier. "Why are you attacking your mother?"

"You're not my mother." said Ruby, now seemingly revitalized. "I can tell now that you aren't her. My mother had silver eyes. You're eyes are red, like a Grimm's."

"Oh that's right, how did I not notice that before?" said Hans in a moment of revelation, examining Summer Rose and noticing that despite her nearly identical features to Ruby's mother, she still possessed Dracul's red eyes.

"It looks like I've been found out." said Summer Rose, laughing, her voice now changing back to Dracul's again. "Despite being able to steal her appearance and abilities, her silver eyes were the one thing I couldn't take from her. It would have destroyed me if I'd have tried. Even so, this is still one of my favorite puppets from my collection to use in battle."

"It was you that killed her then, wasn't it?" said Ruby. "You were the powerful Grimm they were saying she had died fighting on her last mission?"

"Yes, it was me." said the puppet of Summer Rose, now smiling evilly. "I killed Summer Rose, and I savored every moment of it. We were glad to finally be rid of another one of those accursed silver-eyed warriors."

"You did more than just kill her." said Ruby, gripping her weapon tightly in anger. "There was nothing left of her. You completely obliterated her from existence."

"Yes, I devoured her essence and made it a part of my own." said Dracul. "It was one of the sweetest essences I'd ever tasted."

"I'm going to make you pay for what you did!" shouted Ruby, now enraged.

"You made Ruby cry." said Hans, now beginning to feel the same as Ruby. "There's no way I'll ever forgive you for doing that."

"I don't need your forgiveness." said Dracul. "Like I care what you or any other human thinks about me. I am what I am; a Grimm to the end."

"This guy is asking for it Ruby." said Hans. "Let's show him what we students of Beacon are truly capable of."

With their morale now slowly starting to return, Ruby and Hans prepared their weapons and charged at Dracul, fighting him with a renewed sense of vigor. Dracul summoned Summer Rose's weapons to counter them, and they clashed in a flurry of blows. The three of them appeared as though they were flashing in and out of existence as the surrounding landscape was shredded apart by the attacks of their weapons, with Ruby's signature rose petals being the only thing left in their wake.

"Yes, this is what I've been waiting for!" said Dracul, sounding very excited. "I haven't felt this much joy from the thrill of a battle in a long time! Finally, I've found someone who can push me to bringing out this body's full potential!"

The exchange of blows continued on for several more minutes, with Ruby and Hans eventually having to stop for a moment to catch their breaths, the two now beginning to tire out again.

"Wow, I didn't think he'd be this fast." said Hans, breathing heavily. "He must have been holding back earlier. His speed is almost on par with ours Ruby."

They clashed again, and the exchange of blows between the three resumed in full force, however, Ruby and Hans' movements seemed to be slowing down, while Dracul's still seemed to remain at the same constant speed as before. While it was true that Ruby and Hans were amazingly fast, they were still only human and would not be able to keep this up forever.

"Where does he get all of this energy from?" said Ruby, sounding frustrated. "Even Nora with her crazy stamina would be hard pressed to try to outdo this guy's level of endurance."

"We can't go on like this for much longer." said Hans. "We have to find a way to end this fight, fast."

Dracul was now starting to take notice of their weakening attacks and decreasing speed, which was beginning to show in how sloppy their movements were starting to become. Seeing an opening to attack, Dracul propelled himself off the wall of a nearby house and went flying, sending his feet straight into Hans, giving him a nasty flying dropkick to the chest that sent him flying several feet away.

"Sorry Ruby, it looks like a screwed up..." Hans said to himself, as a traveled through the air and his body slammed into a nearby building. This knocked the wind out of him, causing him to cough up blood, and as he hit the back of his head against the wall, he was knocked unconscious.

"Oh come on now, what was that?" asked Dracul, looking at Ruby and the unconscious Hans. "You two are starting to slip up now. That boy left himself wide open, just like you are now..."

Before Ruby could even react, Dracul was already right next to her, taking advantage of the fact that she was momentarily distracted by her comrade's defeat. His blade headed straight for her heart, instinctively causing her to jump back to avoid it, but in her haste she made a critical misstep, causing her to trip over the back of her cloak as she stepped away and fall to the ground. As Ruby quickly struggled to get back up, Dracul was already on top of her, pointing his blade to her throat and putting his foot down on the handle of her weapon to prevent her from lifting it.

"What happened to all that fighting spirit you had not too long ago?" asked Dracul, looking down at Ruby in disappointment. "Were you two just blowing smoke?"

"But how..." said Ruby. "How can a Grimm be this powerful? We could barely even land a hit on you. You beat us so easily."

"Of course I beat you." said Dracul. "I've been doing this for hundreds of years, while you on the other hand are barely even a fully-fledged Huntress. In the end, what it all comes down to is skill and experience. And here I thought I had actually found a worthy opponent. At least you made things fun and managed to keep me entertained. As a reward, I think I'll even add you to my collection, along with that boy over there. What an ironic twist of fate, having your essence devoured by your own beloved mother."

Dracul reached down towards Ruby's face with his hand, and she closed her eyes in anticipation. Before he could touch her however, Dracul was surprised to find that a large blade was now being held against his throat, this one belonging to someone else. He turned around to see who the weapon belonged to, and was surprised to find that someone else had unexpectedly joined the battle. Standing beside him now was the Huntsmen Qrow Branwen, who had stopped Dracul from trying to devour Ruby's essence. Ruby seemed just as surprised to see Qrow as Dracul was, and felt an immense sense of relief at the sight of her uncle.

"Hey there kiddo." said Qrow, looking down towards Ruby with a smile. "Need a hand here?"

* * *

As Weiss and Jaune continued their battle against the Grimm Lord Lycaon, the glowing aura of their weapons continued to intensify, and they also began to shake somewhat, almost as though they were alive.

"Ours weapons are starting to awaken Jaune." said Weiss. "If we can find a way to use these, then we might have a chance."

"But how do we get their true power to come out?" asked Jaune. "All they're doing now is just glowing ominously and squirming a bit. Are we supposed to chant some kind of magic words or do a special hand gesture or something like that?"

"Remember when we looked up that information on the Legendary Weapons of Remnant back in Haven?" asked Weiss. "That book we found said something about the weapons each responding to the wielder's aura when they channel it into the weapons themselves. It's similar to when you channel your own aura to use a Semblance."

"But I don't know even how to use a Semblance yet." said Jaune.

"You can do this Jaune." said Weiss. "You just have to try. The only way we can fully awaken our weapons is if we put all of our effort into channeling our auras into them. Think back on everything you've learned up until now. You have what it takes to do it. You just need to open yourself up and let go of your doubts."

As Lycaon began to make his way towards them, Weiss and Jaune got to channeling their auras into their weapons as fast as they could. So far, Crocea Mors did not seem to change much, but the wand that Weiss held seemed to be more responsive, as its aura began to radiate along with her own white aura. Weiss appeared to have much better control over her aura than Jaune did, and as a result her weapon was much more responsive. With one wave of the Walpurgisnacht Wand, Weiss summoned several glyphs onto the battlefield, out of which emerged the ghostly figures of many different Grimm, along with a wide array of ghostly floating weapons. Weiss waved the wand again, and the summoned Grimm were then commanded to attack, rushing at Lycaon as the floating weapons began to target him as well, coming at him like a swarm of angry bees.

"Do you really think this will stop me?" asked Lycaon, now fighting off the Grimm and dodging the flying weapons. "This is nothing but child's play to me."

"No, but it will at least keep you busy." said Weiss, who then turned to Jaune. "Hurry Jaune! This probably won't hold him for long. If we want to have a chance at beating him, we have to combine our attacks. The only way we can win is if we fight him together."

"I'm trying." said Jaune, looking down at his weapon and beginning to focus. "You make it look so easy Weiss. If only I had natural-born talent like yours. Okay, so I just have to do what Hans showed me." As Jaune powered up his aura, it began to glow all around his body as he started to channel it into the blade, however, nothing changed much. Jaune then began to think to himself " _If only Pyrrha were still here. She could definitely help me do this. She always knew what to do. I miss having her around... No, Pyrrha is gone. I can't keep dwelling on it. That's what's been holding me back all this time. Losing Pyrrha has made me lose confidence in my own abilities and has caused my heart to be filled with doubt. I need to let go of the pain and move on. I need to accept that Pyrrha is gone and fend for myself. All that's let of her now is her memory._ " Jaune then looked down at his sword and a thought occurred to him. " _No, she's not gone. She's been right here with me this whole time. This sword that I'm holding in my hands, it's a part of her legacy, created by her ancestor and passed down through the generations. A piece of her still lives on, with me._ " The yellow glow of Jaune's sword now began to engulf the entire weapon, as if it were resonating in response to Jaune's thoughts and emotions. " _Yes, I understand now. I was never truly alone. You're still here with me Pyrrha. I'll carry you with me by my side. From now on, you'll be the sword that protects me and my friends, Crocea Mors!_ "

Jaune could feel the sensation of someone wrapping their arms around him from behind, as if they were hugging him, and noticed two ghostly hands reaching out to touch his, and help him hold up his sword. For a split second, Jaune thought he could see a ghostly figure that resembled Pyrrha standing there next to him and smiling, and then in the blink of an eye, it was gone, as if it had been nothing but a hallucination. Jaune snapped back to reality, and was surprised to find that his face was now wet with tears. He was even more surprised to find that Crocea Mors now seemed to be changing. Along with the golden-yellow glow, the blade was now starting to morph and change shape, lengthening and become wider, and a more intricate design was starting to appear on it. The entire weapon itself was now evolving along with Jaune's aura, growing and changing in proportion to the amount of aura that was fed into it, and with the large amount of aura that Jaune possessed it quickly began to grow out of control. Shooting out with great force, the blade grew to an almost ridiculous length and width, slicing through several trees in the process and finally becoming stuck in the trunk of a nearby tree. Pulling it out, Jaune then tried to swing it in the other direction, only for it to become stuck in the gap between two other trees, and then upon trying to move it upwards, it became caught in the branches above.

"Well this is new." said Jaune, surprised and intrigued. "But how am I supposed to fight with this thing? It's so big that it keeps getting stuck between the trees."

"What's this now?" said Lycaon, laughing. "It looks like I got worked up over nothing. You may have just now figured out how to use your weapon, but you can't even control it properly. With that huge, untrained aura of yours, it will just rage out of control and become too big to use in battle. You might as well be swinging around a giant pool noodle."

"How would a like you Grimm even know what a pool noodle is?" said Jaune, firing back. "This is the weapon that's going to defeat you... somehow."

"You did it Jaune." said Weiss, sounding surprised and happy at the same time. "Though it is a bit unwieldy. You have to keep your aura under control. You'll need to be precise and channel your aura in little by little. Don't just dump it all into your weapon at the same time."

Weiss then focused her attention back on Lycaon and continued her barrage of summoning attacks. Not sure what to do next, Jaune let go of his sword and allowed it fall to the ground. Upon being separated from Jaune's aura, Crocea Mors immediately reverted back to its original form, shirking back down to its normal size and losing its yellow glow. Jaune then proceeded to pick it back up again and once again focused his aura into it. The blade grow and widened again, and the intricate designs on the blade reappeared, along with the golden-yellow glow. Now that Jaune was more careful this time with how much aura he fed into the weapon, the blade was now at a much more manageable length, now about the length of a large claymore.

"I get it now." said Jaune. "This weapon grows and changes in proportion to how much of my aura I put into it. To keep its size and shape under control, I'll have to keep my aura in check."

Satisfied with how the weapon was now, Jaune towards Weiss to assist her, dragging the enormous sword behind him as he ran. Coming within striking distance of Lycaon, Jaune swung his sword, putting all of his weight and strength into it, but to his surprise he tripped and fell forward, falling on his face.

"It seems you've never had any experience wielding a weapon of that size before." said Lycaon. "This is almost comical."

" _No, that's not it..._ " said Jaune, thinking to himself and getting up off the ground with his sword in hand. _"That's strange. I was expecting the blade to be really heavy, so I put all of my weight into that swing, but it turned out to be much lighter than I expected, and I fell. I see, even though the weapon can change its size, the weight will still stay the same. The weapon can just keep growing, but it won't get any heavier. This will take some time to get used to. With more training I'll probably become more accustomed to it, but I don't have the time for that right now. I'm severely off balance with this giant sword being this light while I'm in all this heavy armor that's weighing me down. I'll have to remove some weight in order to make up for the difference, but what?"_

Having to think fast, an idea came to Jaune. He immediately began to unfasten his armor and took it off, letting it fall to the ground with a thud, leaving him with only the clothes underneath. Jaune then tried swinging the sword and found that it felt much better, and found that he could keep his balance now.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this Weiss." said Jaune, joining her in battle. "I'm coming to help you now, but you'll need to watch my back now that I'll be much more vulnerable without my armor."

"Glad to have you back Jaune." said Weiss, smiling at the fact that Jaune was now back to his old self again. "Let's do this. We'll attack him from both sides with all we've got."

The two then rushed forward and the battle with Lycaon resumed. With the two of them using the powers of their weapons on him at the same time, Lycaon was now starting to have some trouble keeping up. Jaune was also starting become more accurate with his weapon, as with each attack he seemed to be slowly adjusting to it the more he swung. With each and every attack, Crocea Mors and the Walpurgisnacht Wand seemed to glow in response to each other, yellow and purple mixing together, almost as though the weapons were beginning to resonate with each other. With this newfound harmony in their weapons, Weiss and Jaune were able to let off several combined attacks on their opponent, fighting in tandem with one another to make up for what the other lacked. At last, Lycaon was finally starting to be pushed back, becoming weary of his opponents and beginning to see them as a more serious threat than he originally thought.

"The tables have turned now." said Weiss. With their weapons now in harmony with one another, Weiss waved the wand to summon some more Grimm to the battlefield. "Come forth fallen Grimm, and fight!"

This time the effect was much more potent, letting off a great big flash of white light, and two large glyphs appeared on the ground, and as they did so, Weiss and Jaune's weapons shook in response. What emerged from the glyphs were the ghostly forms of two Grimm who were much different from the others Weiss had summoned before. One was a large unicorn-like Grimm with a broken horn and a haunting purple aura, and the other was a very large Ursa-like Grimm with an iridescent yellow aura, and had a spike missing from its back.

"What kind of Grimm are those?" asked Jaune, surprised. "I didn't know you could summon these."

"I didn't know either." said Weiss, surprised. "It can't be. Could these two summoned Grimm actually be the spirits of the Grimm that our weapons were created from?"

"That would make sense." said Jaune, awestruck by the majestic yet terrifying nature of these two summoned Grimm. "At least they're on our side, I hope."

"There's only one way to find out." said Weiss. "Hopefully they won't hold a grudge against use for wielding these weapons they were made into."

With a wave of her wand and then pointing it in the direction of Lycaon, the two Grimm charged forward, with a raging fury in their eyes and in their spirits. Lycaon now seemed worried, and before they could reach him, two of the surviving Revenants hiding nearby jumped into their paths, having been called there by Lycaon to shield him. It was futile however, as the unicorn-like Grimm rammed one of the Revenants with its horn and then trampled it to death underfoot, while the large Ursa-like Grimm shredded the other Revenant to pieces with its long, sharp claws. Not even so much as slowing down, the two Grimm continued their charged towards Lycaon, his eyes widening as he realized what was coming next. The unicorn-like Grimm slammed into Lycaon with its head, sending him flying straight up into the air. Before he had a chance to regain his bearings, Lycaon was hit by a second attack, this time from the Ursa-like Grimm, which had jumped into the air and hit him with one of its claws, slamming him straight into the ground below. As he struggled to get up off the ground, Weiss and Jaune closed in on Lycaon, with their weapons aimed straight at him. Putting his arm up to shield himself, Lycaon was then met by Jaune's sword, which came down from his side, barely missing his shoulder and slicing his arm off in the process. As his severed limb fell to the ground spurting black blood, Lycaon let out a cry of pain.

"Curse you humans!" yelled Lycaon. "How dare you do this to me. It burns!"

"It should burn." said Jaune. "These weapons were created specifically for the purpose of killing Grimm, which as you can see they're very effective at. I was actually aiming for your head, but it seems I missed and got your arm instead."

"It looks like we've overstayed our welcome here." said Lycaon, looking down at the stump of his arm. "This battle has already far exceeded the scope of our original task here. I don't have a reason to stick around here any longer than I need to."

As Weiss got ready to send the two summoned Grimm in for another charge, Lycaon began to transform again, turning back into the wolf-like form he had used earlier in the battle, and dashed towards Weiss and Jaune, now with only three legs to carry him. Expecting him to attack again, they got ready for another barrage, but to their surprise, Lycaon completely ignored them, instead going right past them and scooping his severed arm up off the ground with his jaws. Lycaon carried the limb away with him as he continued to dash off in the opposite direction, fleeing the battlefield with the two surviving Revenants following closely behind him.

"Don't rejoice yet." said Lycaon, carrying the arm in his mouth. "I'll be sure to pay you two back for this one day, mark my words!

"That's right, you better run!" said Jaune, shouting off in Lycaon's direction as he fled.

"I guess he only wants to play the game if he's winning." said Weiss. "What a sore loser."

"Does this means we won?" asked Jaune. "I have a feeling this won't be the last time we see of him."

"Yes Jaune, we won." said Weiss, smiling. "Come on, let's go see if Ren and Nora are alright."

Weiss and Jaune then changed their weapons back to their original forms and deactivated their powers, sheathing them at their sides. The two of them then gave each other a high-five, satisfied with their hard-earned victory and walked off into the distance to find their injured and unconscious companions. Along the way, Weiss picked up the broken pieces of her rapier, while Jaune put his armor back on and went over to retrieve his shield, sadly looking upon the damage that had been done to it.

"Thanks Pyrrha." Jaune whispered, delicately holding the scratched and bent shield in his hands.

* * *

As Ruby lay there pinned to the ground, she felt relief the sight of her uncle Qrow, who had arrived in the nick to time to save her from having her essence devoured by Dracul, who was now in the form of Summer Rose.

"I sure am glad to see you Uncle Qrow." said Ruby, shocked by his sudden arrival. "As you can see, I'm kind of in a tight spot here."

"Nothing to fear, the cavalry's here." said Qrow, smiling and reaching a hand out to Ruby, helping her up off the ground.

"Oh what now?" said Dracul, sounding annoyed. "A new arrival?

Dracul looked around to see where Qrow had come from, and noticed that three of the six surviving Revenants nearby had already been killed by him before he had showed up to stop him, and their remains were now slowly turning into black mist, signifying that they had been killed recently.

"How disgusting." said Qrow, looking upon the form of Summer Rose with disdain and contempt. "I see you're still up to your old tricks as usual, Dracul."

"Well if it isn't my favorite person in the world, Qrow." said Dracul, who now looked excited. "How long has it been since we last fought? I've been dying for a rematch."

"Are you that desperate for my attention that you've started to go after my niece now?" asked Qrow. "You must really be a glutton for punishment."

"Oh come on, you know how much I love fighting you." said Dracul, now ecstatic. "You're the best opponent I've had in years. You make me feel alive when we cross blades with each other."

"Hold on there, don't go getting a hard on just yet." said Qrow, jokingly. "I didn't come all this way just for you. I came to pick up my niece and her friends."

"Uncle Qrow, do you know this guy?" asked Ruby, surprised to find Qrow and Dracul acting so familiar with each other.

"We've become acquainted with each other, but not in the good way." said Qrow. "You could say that Dracul is somewhat of an arch-nemesis to me. I've often run into him and his brother while out doing missions for Ozpin. I've fought him many times in the past. The two of us have basically been at each other's throats since the moment we first met."

"Do you even see what he looks like right now?" asked Ruby, surprised by how causal Qrow was acting, despite the fact that Dracul was now using the form of one of his former teammates. "He can shape shift at will into the form of anyone he's killed in the past after absorbing their essence, and he can use their abilities too."

"I know Ruby." said Qrow. "I know all about his shadow puppets. He's pulled that trick on me before to mess with my head, but that's not really Summer Rose. It's just a shell that he commands, like a parasite hiding within. I'm sorry you had to find that out this way though."

"You flatter me Qrow." said Dracul, sarcastically. "I consider this one here to be one of my greatest masterpieces."

"I can tolerate a lot of things Dracul." said Qrow, now beginning to feel angry as he held his sword up and pointed it at Dracul. "But one thing I won't allow is for you disgrace the memory of my friend and teammate Summer Rose in front of her own daughter. Summer Rose may be dead now, but that doesn't mean you would be following her soon after."

"Yes, that's the Qrow I want to see." said Dracul, driving it in deeper. "Bring it on. Let's do this."

In a flurry of motion, Qrow and Dracul seemed to vanish in a flash, reappearing almost a second later several feet away with their blades now locked together in fierce combat. The two opponents blitzed their way throughout the battlefield with lightning fast speed, each strike of their weapons creating shockwaves that destroyed anything around them. Ruby stood there watching them in awe, never having seen a fight like this before, it surpassing even the one she had seen when Qrow had fought against Winter back at Beacon.

"You're absolutely despicable Dracul." said Qrow, speaking as they continued to fight. "You never cease to amaze me with each new low that you reach."

"Does it makes your blood boil?" asked Dracul, trying to get under Qrow's skin, the blood lust growing in his eyes. "I know it does. Keep getting mad. All it does is serve to feed my power even more."

The clash between Qrow and Dracul raged on with no sign of stopping anytime soon. Both opponents seemed to be evenly matched and of near equal power. With neither one letting up, it would likely result in a stalemate very soon. Seeing that there was nothing more she could really do in this situation, Ruby began to make her way towards Hans to see if he was alright. Finding him unconscious and injured against a wall, Ruby tried waking him, but to no avail, and then proceeded to pick him up, sheathing her weapon and propping him up against her shoulder. She began dragging him away to a safe distance from the battlefield, pulling his weapon along with her in the other hand. As this was going on, Dracul was finally starting to be pushed back by Qrow, beginning to tire after having fought for so long, and during their fight the two came crashing right through the wall where Hans had just been a minute before.

"You've gotten good Qrow." said Dracul, climbing out of the rubble of the collapsed wall. "If you had arrived before I had used up so much of my energy fighting those two earlier, than things might have turned out differently for you." Dracul then noticed that Ruby and Hans were no nowhere to be found and quickly looked around for them, finally spotting them near the edge of the forest, about to disappear from sight. "Hold on, just where do you think you two are going? That's my prey you have there with you. I'm not done him yet, or you for that matter. I still have to finish devouring his essence. In fact, I think I'll take some of it now to replenish myself." Before Qrow could stop him, Dracul had already left the collapsed ruins and was about to reach Ruby and Hans.

"Stay away from him!" shouted Ruby, holding up Hans' sword to defend herself. "I won't let you take him away the same way you took my mom away from me!"

Ruby could feel a mix of powerful emotions welling up inside her, and an intense sensation began to take hold of her body as her eyes began to glow. A shining white light then started to radiate from all around her seemingly pushing back all darkness. As it headed towards Dracul, his eyes widened in shock, forcing him to quickly jump back to avoid it, but not without first nicking the side of his body and causing the shadowy form of Summer Rose to dissipate, reverting Dracul back to his true form.

"So it's you then..." said Dracul, landing on the branch of a nearby tree. "You're the one we were looking for."

"It's that power again." said Ruby, puzzled. "This is just like before on the tower at Beacon."

"That was a close one." said Dracul, standing there on the tree branch as the last remnants of Summer Rose's form crumbled away from his body, and black blood began to leak from his mouth and nose. Many of the small beetle-like Grimm that had been crawling around on Dracul's skin earlier also fell to the ground dead, the creatures likely being a component of Dracul's innate ability to devour someone's essence and make it his own. "If I wasn't already familiar with that power of yours and knew to avoid it, then I might have been in some real trouble. You're one of them too, a silver eyed warrior."

"I am." said Ruby, proudly. "Just like my mother was."

As Qrow approached Ruby and Hans to assist them, the howling of a wolf could be heard off in the distance, which Dracul seemed to take notice of.

"Is it time to go already?" said Dracul, who then began to sprout black shadowy wings from his back, and then took off into the air. "Well, I'd love to stay longer, but it looks like that's my queue to leave now."

"Wait, where are you going?" asked Ruby. "We're not done here Dracul."

"I'm done here however." said Dracul. "We've now accomplished our main objective here, and in no small part thanks to you Ruby Rose."

"What are you talking about." asked Ruby.

"We'll meet again the future." said Dracul. "I look forward to it."

As Dracul fly off into the sky, Ruby and Qrow stood there watching him as he disappeared into the horizon. The surviving three Revenants nearby also fled, scattering off in the direction that Dracul had gone.

"I really hate that guy." said Qrow, scowling and then turning around to help Ruby with the injured and unconscious Hans.

* * *

Hans found himself falling through a deep dark abyss, as memories of his life flashed all around him, from his childhood days spent with Ruby and Yang to his days as a student at Beacon up until the night it fell. Then, it all began to crumble and fade away, as an all-powerful feeling of dread took hold of him. Now all he could see were images from his worst nightmares, such as the night at Beacon or the Grimm Lord Dracul. Hans felt alone and afraid, as if he were being crushed by the weight of his own powerlessness.

"Someone, please help me!" shouted Hans, calling out into the abyss. "I don't want to die! Ruby, please save me from this nightmare!"

Then, Hans could see a luminous white light appear, engulfing all of the surrounding darkness. He could a white silhouette walking towards him, and he could feel his dread begin to disappear, replaced by a warm soothing feeling that filled his mind and body, as if someone were there with him. The feeling wasn't just in his mind, but on the outside as well. Hans then awoke from his sleep to find himself back in the real world.

"Where am I?" asked Hans, hazily opening his eyes and examining his surroundings.

"Welcome back to the world of the living Hans." said a voice, which belonged to Ruby.

"Ruby, is that you?" asked Hans. "What's going on?"

Hans took a closer look where he was and finally realized that he being carried by Ruby on her back, which was most likely the warm sensation he had felt earlier that had awoken him. He looked around some more and noticed that the group was now traveling down a road leading through the countryside of Mistral, with Qrow Weiss and Jaune following closely behind, as well as Nora, who was now awake and carrying an unconscious Ren on her back, along with his weapons. Ruby now wore Hans' sword wrapped around her waist in its flexible form, like a sash for easier carrying, while Qrow carried Ruby's scythe and Nora's hammer over his shoulders, along with his own weapon on his back.

"What happened?" asked Hans. "The last thing I remember before losing consciousness was that Grimm sending me flying into a wall."

Hans tried to move, but then felt a sharp pain in his side as he did so, causing him immediately stop and hold onto Ruby.

"Try not to move too much Hans." said Ruby. "You've gotten hurt pretty badly."

"I was able to wrap my weapon around my torso at the last second to help lessen the blow." said Hans. "But it seems it didn't stop the damage completely. It feels like I might have broken a few ribs."

"Your injuries need time to heal." said Ruby. "Ren and Nora also got pretty banged up too, but Nora is already back on her feet. She's always been one tough cookie. She avoided a direct hit in her battle with Lycaon, so she didn't get hurt as badly, but Ren seems to have gotten the worst of it. Jaune offered to carry him instead to let Nora rest and recuperate, but she insisted that she be the one to carry him. Maybe it's the strong bond they have, so I decided to follow suit and do the same with you."

"Thanks for getting me out of there." said Hans, grateful, but also feeling somewhat embarrassed. "Whatever happened to those Grimm we were fighting anyway? Did you beat them? It looks like your Uncle Qrow is here too. When did he show up?"

"They got away." said Ruby. "They gave us a lot of trouble, but my Uncle Qrow showed up just in time and helped us even the playing field. Dracul then tried to go after the two of us, but I was able to stop him with that same silver-eyed power I used at Beacon on the night it fell."

"Ah, that must have been what that bright light was." said Hans. "That sounds like it'll be a very useful power to have, if you can figure out how it works. So, what happened next?"

"After that, Dracul ran off with his brother Lycaon, which is who Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora were fighting." said Ruby.

"How did that fight go?" asked Hans.

"We kicked his butt." said Jaune, entering the conversation. "After he took out Ren and Nora, it was just me and Weiss left to fight him. We were somehow able to unlock the hidden powers of our weapons and beat him, and then he ran away like a coward."

"It's a good thing we did some research on these ancient weapons." said Weiss. "They'll be a great asset to us when we fight the Grimm again in the future."

"Aside from Ren and Nora, that Lycaon did some serious damage to our equipment." said Jaune, demonstrating how his shield was bent and now only closed into its sheath form very crookedly. "I'll probably have to hammer this thing out, and I just got it fixed not too long ago. Sorry about what happened to your weapon though Weiss."

"It's okay Jaune." said Weiss, holding the pieces of her rapier in her hands. "I think I can fix this, if not I'll just make a new one. Besides, I have this powerful new summoning wand now."

"Who were those bloodthirsty, battle-crazed lunatics anyway?" asked Jaune. "I've never seen any Grimm like them before. Were they even Grimm at all?"

"The Brothers Grimm." said Qrow, entering into the conversation as well. "Two highly intelligent and very dangerous humanoid Grimm. Throughout Remnant's history, there have been many reported sightings and stories of their actions. Very few people have ever witnessed them in person and lived to tell about it. Countless Huntsmen and Huntresses have victim to their blood lust throughout the years. They're not an enemy you really want to have, but unfortunately for me and some of the other people in Ozpin's inner circle, we've come into conflict with them many times in the past. Those strange Grimm that were accompanying them were a rare and dangerous type of Grimm known as Revenants. They can also be pretty nasty, with their incredible speed, dexterity and deadly sharp claws, but fortunately they're not as intelligent as the Brothers are, but in large groups they can become a serious threat. You're lucky that I came along when I did, otherwise things could have turned out very badly for you."

"We survived though, didn't we?" said Jaune. "That's what's important."

"Yeah, but barely." said Qrow. "I will say this though, I'm really impressed with how you all handled yourselves. You survived a battle against the Brothers Grimm, and managed to defeat several Revenants. That's not something most warriors can say they've done. You're skills have greatly improved over these past few months. If Ozpin were here right now, he might even say that you're all ready to graduate and officially become full Huntsmen and Huntresses."

"We still have a long way to go before we're ready for that." said Weiss. "Maybe we should take Sun up on his offer after all, and sign ourselves up for Haven Academy."

"Did we do a good job then Uncle Qrow?" asked Ruby. "Did our whole mission to Haven accomplish anything? Right now, it doesn't really feel that way."

"It may be true that you guys didn't really find out anything new about Cinder Fall that we hadn't already uncovered through our investigations." said Qrow, pausing. "But you did manage to force the Brothers Grimm out into the open, and now that you've gained their attention, they will likely come after you again in the future, which will put us one step closer to finding out who they're working for and what their plans for Remnant are. The next time they show up, we'll be ready for them, especially now that you we have three of the Legendary Weapons of Remnant being wielded by skilled fighters on our side."

"The next time we see those two Grimm Brothers, they'll have another thing coming." said Nora, now pitching in.

Everyone nodded in agreement with Nora, and continued on down the road as the sun began to rise.

"Come on, let's get back to base and report on what's happened here." said Qrow.

Sometime later, Hans leaned forward to speak to Ruby while the others were too far ahead to hear them.

"Ruby, I'm sorry I didn't tell you." said Hans, sounding remorseful.

"Didn't tell me what?" asked Ruby.

"About how that Grimm killed your mother and stole her appearance and abilities." said Hans. "That is exactly why I didn't tell you the full story of what happened to me that night at Beacon. I mean, how would I have even been able to explain something like that to you? I was certain that you wouldn't take it very well if I told you. At best you'd think that it was some kind of sick joke, and at worst you would probably break down into tears. I knew about it, but I didn't say anything. I thought about telling you before, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I shouldn't have kept that from you though."

"It's not your fault Hans." said Ruby. "I'm not mad at you at all. You didn't tell me only because you cared about how it would make me feel. If our roles had been reversed and I were in your position, I probably would have done the same thing you did. But the way you talk about it, it's as if you think you killed her. That wasn't my real mom that we fought. It was nothing but an illusion. My real mom has been dead for a long time now, and you helped me realize that. It was that Grimm Dracul that killed her, not you or me."

"Maybe by keeping it all inside, somewhere deep down inside I somehow thought that it would make me stronger." said Hans. "I couldn't have been more wrong. Jaune probably thinks that he's the weak link of the group because of how Pyrrha's death has affected him, but the weak one was actually me. Jaune was able to overcome his weakness and despite all odds he and Weiss defeated Lycaon, while me on the other hand, I couldn't even do a single thing against Dracul. The whole time I was shaking in fear. Just like always, I needed you to come rescue me Ruby."

"That's not true." said Ruby. "Dracul was too powerful for either of us to handle. There's no way that we could have beat him if my Uncle Qrow hadn't shown up."

"Even now you're still coming to my rescue, by choosing to carry me on your back rather than letting someone else who's in much better shape to do it." said Hans. "Ever since we were kids, you were always the one picking me up off the ground. I was always the crybaby, while you never seemed to be afraid of anything. You always had the courage to do whatever you wanted, and nothing could stop you once you set your mind to it. You were the always the stronger one between the two of us, while I was always just second best, following behind you in your shadow. There's a reason why back in Signal Academy you had all kinds of cool nicknames and titles like Ruby the Red Reaper or Ruby the Scarlet Wind, while I was just plain old Hans."

"You're not weak Hans." said Ruby. "No matter how much you believe yourself to be inadequate, I know that on the inside you're actually strong. Do you remember when you climbed all the way to the top of the bell tower at Signal? You were afraid of heights, but you did it anyway. Even though I came up there to help you get down, it took a lot of courage to climb up there on your own in the first place. None of the kids who dared you to do it wanted to do it themselves."

"That wasn't courage, it was just plain stupidity and foolishness." said Hans.

"What about that time when I went with Yang to go search for her mother." said Ruby. "We got lost and were almost eaten by Grimm, but do you know why it is that we survived? It was because of what you did. You realized that something was wrong when we didn't come back after a while. Despite promising that you would keep it a secret, you told my Uncle Qrow where we had gone, and then you went ahead into the woods all by yourself to follow our trail. It was dark and dangerous, and there were Grimm roaming throughout the forest, but the only thing that seemed to matter to you was finding us. If it hadn't been for you, my Uncle Qrow wouldn't have known where to look for us, and me and Yang would be dead now, eaten by a Grimm."

"But what does that have to do with me being strong?" asked Hans.

"Back then you were willing put yourself in danger in order to come find us." said Ruby. "Any other kid would just run back home to their mom. You had something much more powerful motivating you that allowed you to set aside all your fears. You were able to do that because you loved us more than you feared the Grimm."

"Of course I do." said Hans. "The two of you are like family to me. If you two were gone, then things just wouldn't be the same without you."

"If you could do something like that when you were only a kid, then just imagine the kind of inner strength and courage you're capable of bringing out now." said Ruby.

"Ever since first encountering that Grimm at Beacon, things have never been the same for me." said Hans. "He broke my will and stole away what inner strength I had. The only way I'll ever be able to overcome that is if I defeat him."

"You don't have to fight this battle alone." said Ruby. "I know he's hurt you, both physically and mentally, but I want to help you. When I see you hurting like this, it hurts me too. He's had just as much of an effect on my life as he's had on yours when he killed my mom. If he isn't stopped, just think of how many other people will die because of him. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. If we combine ours and work together, we'll definitely defeat him one day, if we train hard enough. We'll overcome this pain and the scars he's left us with, together."

Hans could feel his spirit being uplifted by Ruby's words of encouragement, and he was finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to Ruby, he was now slowly beginning to return to his old self again and regain his confidence.

"I'm so happy to have you around Ruby." said Hans, quickly wrapping his arms around her and hugging her. "What would I ever do without you?"

Ruby smiled and looked on as she continued on down the road. Looking up at the sky, she noticed that the moon was now starting to fade away from view and disappear as the morning light came.

"Hey Hans, do you remember that story I once told you and Yang when we were kids?" asked Ruby. "The one my mom used to tell me all the time when I was little?"

"You mean the one about where the moon goes during the day and how it got to be the way it is now?" said Hans. "Yeah, I remember that."

"How did it go exactly?" asked Ruby, thinking. "I think the story said that the reason we can't see the moon during the day is because it's afraid of the sun, and that whenever the sun rises, the moon always runs away to a dark faraway land, where it hides from the sun and waits until it sets in the evening before coming out again. It's also said that a witch lives in that dark, faraway land, along with her four monster children. The witch once had a husband that lived with them, who was just a normal human, but she still loved him anyway. For a long time, the six of them lived together happily, but the love that the witch and her husband once shared with each other slowly began to fade away, and it eventually grew into hatred and bitter resentment. As the years passed by, the witch and her husband would often fight with each other, and one day during a particularly heated argument, they accidentally broke a huge part of the moon while fighting. After that, the husband left the witch and her four children, and he never came back. From then on, the witch would always search him, trying to find him and bring him back to her. The moon being chased by the sun is said to be a reflection of her pursuit of him. The witch's former husband now runs away from her because he's afraid of how she had hurt him, just as the moon was once hurt by her when she broke it."

"I wonder, why she chases him?" asked Hans. "Does she hate him that much and wants revenge, or did she perhaps realize what she had done wrong and wants him to come back. But she can never find him because he's too afraid of her and is always on the run. It's actually kind of tragic if you think about it."

"Sounds like they have some serious relationship issue to work out." said Ruby, laughing a little bit.

"I wonder if the story is really true or not." said Hans. "Almost all myths, legends, and even fairy tales have some sort of basis in reality."

"Who knows?" said Ruby, looking off into the sky with Hans. "Maybe there is some truth to it after all."

* * *

Sometime before morning arrived, the two Grimm Brothers had now regrouped after having fled from their respective battles with Ruby and her friends. Beaten and injured, they were now starting to make their way back home, accompanied by the five surviving Revenants from the group of twenty that had originally accompanied them.

"That really was something back there." said Lycaon, listening to Dracul's account of how his battle had gone. "There's more to those young warriors than meets the eye. I look forward to the next time we meet them in battle."

"It was truly invigorating." said Dracul, sounding strangely happy. "I haven't had that much fun in a long time. Our old friend Qrow even showed up to the party."

"Brother, what was that bright light I saw earlier?" asked Lycaon. "Did your opponents possess strange weapons as well?"

"That light you saw is exactly what came here for." said Dracul. "It looks like the report that Cinder provided us with was accurate. We've found the silver-eyed warrior. It's the girl in red with the mechanical scythe. As it turns out, she's also the daughter of Summer Rose, which explains a lot."

"So another one has appeared then." said Lycaon. "She could end up becoming a real thorn in our side if she's able to master that power."

"It's quite a nasty ability, isn't it?" said Dracul, wiping away the blood dripping from his mouth and nose as a result of the injuries he had sustained from Ruby's power. "Unlike what happened with Cinder, I was already familiar with this power and knew what to expect, so I was able to avoid it in time before it could do any real damage. If I had been any normal Grimm, I would have been vaporized in an instant. We have at least some resistance to it because we're half-human. As much as we despise _"him"_ , I must admit that this is at least one useful thing our father had given us."

"Being half-Grimm also has its benefits as well." said Lycaon, who was holding onto his severed arm with his other arm.

Lycaon held the severed arm and put it up against the stump where it had been severed, and a thick black substance then began to ooze out as the arm reattached itself to the stump and started to heal. With his severed arm now reconnected, Lycaon began to move his fingers around, and then the entire arm in order to test its mobility.

"There, good as new." said Lycaon, examining the newly reattached limb and smiling.

"Let's go home now Brother, the same way we came here, through the astral pathway." said Dracul. "Mother will be eager to hear of the results of our mission to find the new silver eyed warrior. Our allies will be meeting again soon, so they should be informed as well."

The two brothers than began to pick up speed, and as they did so, Lycaon transformed into his wolf-like form, while Dracul sprouted his black shadowy wings and took off into the air. The two continued on traveling at this fast pace for a while, and the five Revenants followed behind them still managing to keep up. After a while, they eventually reached the top of a cliff that overlooked a large lake and stopped, standing at the edge and looking down into the water below. Without a moment's hesitation, the two of them then jumped straight down from the edge of the cliff and into the lake, with the five Revenants following closely behind them, and they disappeared into the pristine waters below, as the image of the moon reflected onto the surface of the water.

* * *

Faraway in the kingdom of Vacuo, there was a garden inside of what appeared to be a large indoor space within a school; a school which was quite similar in size and appearance to Beacon Academy or Haven Academy. Within this garden, there was a woman in a white dress with long green hair decorated with flowers, who she was in the middle of tending to the garden, when she suddenly dropped the basket of vegetables that she had been holding in her hands. The look on her face seemed to be one of pure terror and confusion, as if she had just awoken from really nightmare or hallucination. Upon seeing this, three people came rushing to her side, two men, and a woman, with looks of concern on their faces.

"What's the matter Lady Gayl?" asked the woman. "Is something wrong?"

"I've had another vision Eclair." said the woman, picking the basket up off the ground.

"Another one?" said Eclair. "And so soon after the last one too?"

"What was it this time Aurora." asked one of the men, who seemed to resemble the woman in the garden somewhat, likely being a relative of hers.

"I've felt it again Giorno." said Aurora. "The silver eyed warrior's power. This the second time now in the past few months. I wasn't sure of it before when I felt their power the first time, but now I'm certain. Whoever they are, they've begun to awaken their powers."

"What could this mean?" asked the other man. "Is it a good sign, or a bad one?"

"I don't know Leon." said Aurora. "But _"she"_ will definitely try to eliminate whoever it is. We can't let that happen. A series of catastrophic, world-changing events have now been set in motion, and I can sense that this new silver eyed warrior will be at the center of it all. We must find them before she does. Whoever they are, I have a feeling that they will either destined to help stop these events, or end up being the cause of them..."

"Sounds like this silver-eyed warrior is a magnet for trouble." said Giorno.

"We haven't got much time." said Aurora. "They've already taken out the Fall Maiden Amber and stolen her powers, as well as laid waste Beacon. With no sign of Ozpin or word of his whereabouts, we can only fear the worst. Any one of the other three Huntsman academies in Remnant could be next, including ours, and very soon she will likely send someone after me as well."

"There's no way we'll let her do that." said Eclair. "Not while we're still alive."

"As your protectors, it is our sworn duty to keep you safe." said Leon. "Whoever she sends, they'll be no match for the four of us working together as Team GALE."

Aurora's three companions and protectors stood proudly by her side with their weapons in hand. In his hands, Giorno wielded a strange two-handed spear with a blade that was straight on one side and jagged on the other, while Leon wielded a large broad sword with a wide blade and a slight curve at the end, and finally Eclair wielded a recurve bow that almost seemed to glow with a faint blue light, and had a quiver on her back containing many different types of arrows. At first glance, one could immediately tell that their weapons were far from ordinary and had unique attributes and special qualities to them, all marked by the same small, skull shaped crest that was engraved on them.

* * *

 **Wow, this chapter took a really long time to write and release, but I'm glad to finally be done with it. Ever since I released the previous chapter, I've been so busy with life lately that I've had very little free time for myself, but I've been working on this chapter with every spare opportunity I could get. At some points it even felt as though I might never finish this chapter, and that it would turn into the project of a lifetime. Part of the reason it took so long was because of the chapter's length, it being the longest one in the story so far, which means it also required a lot of editing and proofreading.**

 **After seeing that first episode of RWBY Volume 4, I must say that I'm really surprised with how some of the events, characters, and concepts in it ended up being pretty similar to some of the events, characters, and concepts in this fan fiction. The personalities of some of the new villains also kind of seem to match up with those of the two Grimm Brothers Dracul and Lycaon pretty closely. Even their appearances were somewhat close to how I imagined Dracul and Lycaon looking.**

 **I've noticed that whenever I write a fan fiction, I usually seem to have a really good feel for how the creators of a series want to do things, and I often try to follow that same style with my fan fictions so that they feel like they could fit within the story. The story of this fan fiction does indeed seem like it could possibly fit within the events of or even possibly after Volume 4, depending on how things pan out. I even added in a few tid-bits into this chapter that allude to some of the events of the first episode of Volume 4. Maybe after Volume 4 officially ends and if the story and events still line up, then I might even make this story into a RWBY Volume 5 fan fiction instead.**

 **Think of this chapter as being sort of a mid-season finale for my Volume 4 story, or it might even work out as a season finale in general if don't continue writing it To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure where the story should go next at this point, since I kind of only thought worked out the events of the story up until this point, though I do have a few ideas for things that could happen next, but most of them are pretty random and unconnected. I'm not sure how many other chapters of this story I'll end up writing in the future, if any at all.**

 **With the arrival of Volume 4, it's likely that I might end up losing motivation to write more chapters and will take a hiatus (as is what often happens when I try to write fan fictions), but once Volume 4 is done, there might be a possibly that I'll come back to continue this story if I can think of any cool new ideas. Don't worry though, this isn't the end of the story just yet. I still have two more extra chapters of this story that I plan to release sometime within the next few weeks. One of them will be another World of Remnant segment, this time about the newly introduced Team Gale, and the other will be a bonus chapter about the backstory and past of Ren and Nora, which should be interesting.**


	10. World of Remnant: Team GALE

**Alright, here is another World of Remnant segment, this time about the team of new characters that were introduced at the very end of the previous chapter. Together, they are known as Team GALE, a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses from Shade Academy in Vacuo, somewhat mirroring Ozpin and his inner circle of Qrow, Glynda, Port, and Oobleck at Beacon Academy, and to a certain lesser extent also mirroring Team RWBY. This is a chapter I've been wanting to do for a long time, and I put a lot of thought into designing Team GALE and coming up with their character traits and the themes behind their names.**

* * *

Ever since their founding after the conclusion of the Great War, Remnant's four great Huntsman academies have gone on to produce many Huntsmen and Huntresses of exceptional skill and renown. There is one team of Huntsman in particular from Shade Academy that has gained much notoriety in recent years, the Huntsman team known as Team GALE. Located halfway across the world from Vale in the Kingdom of Vacuo is Shade Academy, often considered by many to be the sister academy to Beacon, which it shared good diplomatic relations with before it fell. In fact, the two academies are often said to share many similarities with each other, most notable of all being the traits of its students and staff.

As the superstition goes, it is often thought that nearly everyone alive has someone out there in the world who they share a nearly identical existence with, their lives often mirroring each other and following down similar paths. These doppelgangers if you will could be considered kindred spirits, yet through fate they will never meet, and will likely never know of the other's existence, all while still living parallel lives. One of these such parallel existences is reflected in the lives of the members of Team NDGO of Shade Academy, who share many similarities and traits with our heroes in Team RWBY, even though the two have never actually met before. These similarities also extend to some of the teachers of Beacon and Shade, with the lives of those who taught Team NDGO also mirroring the lives of who taught Team RWBY. These teachers at Shade Academy who were responsible for the training of Team NDGO are none other than the members of Team GALE.

Taking a look into their lives, the first and most prominent of Team GALE would likely be the Huntress Aurora Gayl, one of the chief instructors of Shade Academy. A favored teacher among the students of Shade, her infectiously happy and charming personality, as well as her energetic and carefree attitude, has won her the love and adoration of a great many students there. Being somewhat of a headmaster to Shade Academy, Aurora has many responsibilities and duties that she must often attend to, but even so she still finds time for leisure and relaxation, and could usually be found participating in her hobby of tending to the large hanging gardens of the academy and harvesting their fruits and produce.

Another well-known fact about Aurora that many of the students at Shade are aware of is the existence of her daughter Dew Gayl, who as a result of her mother's fame and popularity has become one of Shade Academy's most revered star students, along with the other Huntresses that compose Team NDGO. Although being an illegitimate child, Aurora still loves her daughter very much, and the two share a very close relationship. There was however one secret about Aurora that was even more well-kept than the nature of her daughter's parentage, and that secret was the fact that Aurora is actually one of the four Maidens of the Seasons, having become one in recent years after the previous Maidens had passed away. Aside from Aurora, the members of her team who act as her protectors are among some of the only people who are aware of her secret, although her daughter Dew has begun to suspect that there is something is special about her mother.

In person, Aurora may not seem like much of a fighter, but when provoked she could assume a serious persona and would show no mercy to her enemies and anyone or anything that would try to hurt those she cared about. When not using her Maiden powers in battle, Aurora would resort to the use her personal weapon Nightshade, a small and modest-sized weapon that could change between the form of a semi-automatic pistol or a razor-sharp dagger laced with a deadly poison.

Moving on to the next members of Team GALE, there was the Huntsman Leon Roland and the Huntress Eclair Mauveine, who like Aurora were both also instructors at Shade Academy. While he was a loyal and caring friend, many of the students of Shade often thought of Leon Roland as being one of the strictest and most iron-clad instructors there, his personality matching with his earth-based Semblance. Eclair Mauveine on the other hand, while not as strict of an instructor as Roland was had a very sharp, witty, and reserved personality, fittingly reflected by her own lightning-based Semblance. The final member of Team GALE and the next most prominent was Giorno Gayl, the twin brother to Aurora Gayl, as well as an instructor at Shade and the official leader of Team GALE.

Due to her usually carefree and nonchalant attitude, Aurora believed herself to be unsuited for the role of being a team leader, feeling that she lacked the ability to properly lead a Huntsman team on missions, and instead she allowed her more calm and collected brother Giorno to take on the role. Among all of those close to her, perhaps nobody else in the world knew Aurora better than Giorno did, and the two shared a very close bond with each other, both in battle and in their everyday lives. This bond between them also extended to Giorno's niece Dew, who he was almost like a father-figure to, having helped to raise her and then eventually helping to train her in the ways of becoming a Huntress, with Dew even adopting his fighting style of using a spear in battle. Unlike Dew's spear however, Giorno's own weapon was an unusual one, being an ancient spear that seemingly granted him the ability to control the wind. This power, coupled with Giorno's own natural wind-based Semblance, an ability that many members of the Gayl family shared, including his sister and niece, made him a truly formidable opponent. When working together with Aurora while she used her Maiden powers to amplify her Semblance, the two formed a nearly unstoppable duo in battle.

As for the origins of Giorno's weapon, that was a mystery in and of itself, along with the weapons of his teammates Leon and Eclair. The story goes that after becoming stranded in the desert during a mission gone wrong, the three of them had lost all of their weapons and equipment, while Aurora on the other was fortunately able to hold onto hers. After trekking through the desert for quite some time, they eventually arrived at a small town located in the middle of an oasis where they were able to be rescued. While they spent time in this town, the four of them had come across a merchant there who specialized in the sale of ancient and rare artifacts, and from him Giorno, Leon, and Eclair were able to buy three new weapons to replace the ones they had lost. Little did they know, and as soon come to find out, these three weapons that they had purchased from the merchant were far from ordinary. In fact, they possessed many unique qualities and strange powers, some of which bordered on the mystical. As it turned out, these three weapons that they now wielded were actually three of the twelve Legendary Weapons of Remnant, which many had thought to be lost to history. To find even one of these weapons was incredibly rare, even more so to find three of them in the same place at the same time. As it turned out, even the merchant had been completely unaware of the true nature of the weapons he had sold them.

The members of Team GALE quickly became very fond of these new weapons, and after rigorously training their auras they were eventually able to master the strange powers of the weapons. Aurora however found that she was unable to wield any of the three weapons, as it seemed that powers of the Grimm within them were incompatible with the powers of a Maiden that she carried within her, and thus she was unable to bond with them, and as a result was rejected by all of them. The weapons themselves were quite powerful, and each one of them possessed a unique elemental ability that served to further augment the Semblances of their wielders. The first of these weapons was wielded by Giorno, the spear known as Gungnir, which had been forged from the talon of a very large Nevermore Grimm, imbuing it with the ability to control and manipulate the winds. The second of these weapons was wielded by Leon, a large curved broadsword named Durendal that had been created from the tusk of an uncharacteristically vicious and aggressive Goliath Grimm, imbuing it with the ability to control and manipulate the surrounding earth. Finally, the third weapon was wielded by Eclair, an impressive recurve bow named Vijaya, which had been created from the antlers of a strange Kirin-like Grimm, imbuing it with the ability to control and manipulate lightning, the properties of which also transferred to any arrows that were fired from it. Together with these three weapons, Giorno, Leon, and Eclair served as the protectors to Aurora, and with the powers of a Maiden within her, the four of them together as Team GALE were indeed a force to be reckoned with.

* * *

 **Well, there you have it, the introduction to Team GALE of Shade Academy. Now that I think about it, the Kingdom of Vacuo, along with its Huntsman Academy of Shade are probably the places in Remnant that we currently know the least about. Maybe sometime in the future an awesome idea for a spin-off series that Rooster Teeth could make would be a show about Team NDGO and their lives at Shade Academy. It could work really well as something akin to RWBY Chibi, where it would be a miniseries shown between the seasons of RWBY in order to hold us over until the next season.**

 **Okay, now I'll do a breakdown of each of the members of Team GALE and what their influences were, starting with Aurora. Aurora was probably my favorite member of Team Gale to make, and as you might have noticed, I left it pretty vague as to which Maiden she actually is. At first I originally thought of having her be the Spring Maiden, hinted at by her love of gardening, but with recent developments in the series it seems like we might be seeing the actual Spring Maiden soon. So I then decided that maybe it would work better if she was the Summer Maiden instead, especially considering how outgoing and social she is like the Summer Maiden in the story was, as well as Vacuo being in a desert area, which would fit well with the season of summer if we are going by the climates of the kingdoms.**

 **Either way, I left it open to interpretation as to whether she could be the Spring Maiden or the Summer Maiden, but in the future I might decide to go ahead and make her the Summer Maiden. By the way, her green hair is not connected to her maiden powers, but rather to her association with the element of wind, which is often symbolized by the color green in fiction, and in RWBY wind-based Dust is also colored green. Another fun fact about Aurora is that I was originally going to make her last name Gale, but then after doing a little bit of research I found out that there was already a character in RWBY that had that last name, Dew Gayl, who also had an association with wind. I then decided to make the two of them related to each other by having Aurora be her mother, and I changed the spelling of her last name to Gayl.**

 **As for the origins of Aurora's name, that comes from the story of Sleeping Beauty, the princess in it being named Aurora, which also indirectly connects to Giorno's name as well. The Aurora in the original version of the story of Sleeping Beauty gave birth to twins, one named Aurore (meaning dawn) and the other named Jour (meaning day). Aurora also means dawn, and is a reference to the green aurora borealis found the arctic, and Giorno is the Italian word for day. I really wanted their names to be a reference to the twins, but I also really wanted make their team name spell out GALE, and lucky that I was able to find a good name for Giorno that fit with the motif. Also, in one of the original versions of the story of Sleeping Beauty, the twins that Aurora gave birth to were from someone she was not married to at the time, (how that happened I'll leave up to you to find out), technically making them her illegitimate children, which also sort of connects to Dew Gayl being Aurora's illegitimate daughter.**

 **Aurora's weapon Nightshade is a reference to the family of poisonous plants known as the Nightshade family, hence the poison dagger, but it is also from this family of plants that many of fruits and vegetables we have today originate from, which is referenced by Aurora's hobby of gardening and harvesting vegetables. The reason I did not give Aurora one of the Legendary Weapons of Remnant was because I thought it would make her way too overpowered since she already has the powers of a Maiden, so I made it thing that the Legendary Weapons of Remnant cannot be wielded by someone with the powers of Maiden because of the incompatible nature of the Grimm power within. Moving on to Giorno's weapon, Gungnir was the name of the spear wielded by Odin, chief of the gods in Norse mythology. I searched and searched, but could not find a spear from any mythology that also had the ability to control the winds, so I settled for Gungnir. Gungnir could still fit with the wind theme, since Odin was also a sky god in, and he was also said to be accompanied by two ravens, his sacred animal, which also connects to how the spear was created from the talon of a Nevermore Grimm. I was originally going to name the spear Zephyrus, after the Greek god of the west wind, but to me it felt kind of felt weird having the weapon be named after a person rather than an object.**

 **Moving on to the next member of Team GALE is Leon Roland, a pretty interesting character and probably my next favorite member of the team. Leon has several connections to the element of earth, from his name to his weapon. His first name Leon is based on the color lion, which is a shade of brown, and his last name Roland is based on the hero from the epic poem The Song of Roland, and it means "famous land". Just like in the epic poem, Leon's sword is also named Durendal, and legend has it that the real Durendal eventually became stuck in the side of a cliff, where it remains to this day, which connects to Durendal's ability to control the earth, as well as having it come from the tusk of a Goliath since elephants were often considered behemoths of the earth in many cultures.**

 **Finally, there is Eclair Mauveine, the final member of Team GALE. Her first name Eclair means lighting in French, which goes well with her elemental abilities of lightning, and it also somewhat connects to her last name Mauveine, which is an artificial shade of purple. This fits well because in fiction the element of lightning is often symbolized by the color purple. Her weapon, the bow Vijaya, is the name of the bow wielded by Indra, the god of storms in Hindu mythology, and the Kirin-like Grimm that it was created from is a reference to the Kirin (or Qilin), a mythological horned creature that was often associated with lighting and the heavens.**

 **Wow, that was a pretty long analysis, but it was necessary in order to fully grasp the nature of these characters and where they originated from. To give you a better feel for what these characters are like and what their roles are, if I were to try equating each of the members of Team GALE to existing characters within RWBY who share similar personalities and character traits, Aurora would be like Ozpin, Summer and Ruby, Giorno would be like Qrow, Oobleck, and Blake, Leon would be like Port, Taiyang, and Yang, and Eclair would be like Glynda, Raven, and Weiss.**

 **Now that I'm done with this, all that remains now is for me to write that bonus chapter about the past of Ren and Nora. It should be pretty interesting, considering that the recent development in the latest episode of RWBY actually seems to fit very well with what I had in mind for their backstory.**


	11. Bonus Chapter: Ren and Nora's Story

**Happy Chinese New Year everyone, I'm back and finally ready to release this bonus chapter about the past and backstory of Ren and Nora that I've been working on for a very long time, and now I've finally gotten around to finishing it. I know that I'm really late in releasing this and that the canon backstory for Ren and Nora has already been revealed in the series, thus making this whole thing seem kind of pointless, but I still really want to release this version of their backstory that I had in mind. I was hoping to have this chapter finished much earlier, before Ren and Nora's canon backstory was revealed so that the mystery of their past would still remain intact. Even if this version of their backstory is not canon, I hope that you will all still enjoy my own personal take on it. Knowing some of the events from their canon backstory now, I even made a few minor tweaks and adjustments to this one so that the two versions could still somewhat fit together in a vague way and overlap with each other.**

* * *

As the group of Ruby and her friends continued making their way down the road that led through the countryside of Mistral, Ren finally awoke from his unconscious state and was surprised to find himself being carried on Nora's back.

"Nora, is that you?" asked Ren, still disorientated and half asleep.

"Boop." said Nora, tapping Ren on the nose with her finger.

"It's good to see you too Nora." said Ren, smiling.

"Rise and shine sleepy head!" said Nora enthusiastically as the sun was now beginning to rise in the distance.

"I guess this means we lost to that Grimm?" asked Ren.

"Yup, we got our butts kicked." said Nora, casually. "But the others were able to beat those two Grimm Brothers in the end and chase them off."

"That's good to hear." said Ren. "Even if we did lose."

"You're finally awake Ren." said Ruby, who appeared right next to them along with Hans and Weiss. "We were beginning to wonder if your injuries were more serious than we first thought."

"It's nothing too bad." said Ren, noticing that Hans was in the same situation he was in, being carried by Ruby on her back. "My entire body is just aching all over is all."

"Is that supposed to be sarcasm?" asked Weiss. "I can never tell with you Ren."

"It's sarcasm." said Hans, answering Weiss' question. "Can't you tell?"

"Of course I can." said Weiss, who obviously could not tell, but was too embarrassed to admit it.

"That reminds me Ruby, I almost forgot to give these back to you." said Hans, reaching around to his traveling pack and pulling out a pair of stockings, and then reaching his arm over Ruby's shoulders to hand them over to her. "All the holes and tears are patched up now."

"Thanks a lot Hans." said Ruby, stopping for a moment to take off her shoes and slide the stockings onto her legs. "Now I can finally put them back on. My legs have been really cold ever since I took them off."

"Finally, it's about time you got those things fixed!" said Weiss, letting out a sigh of relief upon noticing that Ruby's stockings no longer had any tears in them. "All those holes in your stockings would always drive me nuts every time I'd see them. How did you fix them anyway?"

"I had Hans sew them up for me while we were on our way to Haven." said Ruby.

"Hans sewed them up?" asked Weiss, surprised. "I didn't know he could sew stuff."

"I can, and I'm pretty good at it too." said Hans. "One of the skills we had to learn at Signal Academy was how to repair and maintain our equipment, including how to sew up any damage that might occur to our clothes."

"I was never really any good at sewing though." said Ruby. "That's why I usually had Hans help me with it in the past when I needed my clothes fixed. He even once made me a teddy bear for my birthday with his sewing skills. I still have it laying around somewhere in my room. I'm surprised Zwei hasn't chewed it up by now."

"Aww, that's so sweet." said Nora. "I wish someone could do that for me."

"I did it because I felt bad for her." said Hans, now turning red from embarrassment. "Everyone else was able to make one in our arts and crafts class except for her."

"Where are we going now anyway Nora?" asked Ren, coming in and changing the subject, because he knew that the _"someone" who_ Nora was referring to was most likely him. "Back to Haven?"

"Something like that." said Nora. "We're going to meet up with some of the other students and instructors from Beacon that have been gathering in Mistral. You can ask Ruby's uncle Qrow for all the details later."

"I see, that should be interesting." said Ren.

"Try to get so rest okay." said Nora. "We'll need you in tip-top shape for what's coming next."

"Anyway, I wonder what Yang is up to right about now?" asked Ruby. "It's been a while since we've heard from her. Maybe we should give her a call when we get back to Haven and see how she's doing?"

"Sounds good to me." said Hans. "I can't wait to tell her about all the things we've done since the last time we saw her."

"She'll probably be jealous that she's missing out on all the fun with everybody." said Ruby.

After traveling for some time down the road, the landscape and terrain began to change from open countryside to dense forest, with various old stone shires scattered throughout it, which Ren seemed to take notice of.

"You know, this place kind of reminds me of our old home." said Ren, reminiscing with Nora now that they were far enough away from the others to be heard.

"It sort of does feel familiar." said Nora. "But it's not like _"that"_ place is really anything to feel nostalgic over."

"So you still have some bad memories of those times?" asked Ren, looking at an old scar on Nora's back that was partially covered by her shirt. "As much as I hate to admit it, if it had never been for _"him"_ then we probably never would have even met in the first place."

"That's at least one good thing that came out of it." said Nora.

"I wonder what he's up to these days anyway?" said Ren. "He's probably still out there doing what he always does. I doubt he's changed at all."

"Luckily we won't ever have to see his ugly face again." said Nora, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. "Isn't that right _Lie_?"

"It's been a long time since you've called me that." said Ren, surprised.

"But isn't that the name your were born with?" asked Nora. "The one your clan gave you? It's a part of who you are."

"But I don't like being called by that name anymore." said Ren. "It brings back too many painful memories, and it reminds me of everything that I hated about them."

"Even so, that doesn't change the fact that they're your family, no matter how messed up they may be." said Nora. "Their blood flows inside you too."

"I can't stand the thought of it." said Ren, almost in disgust. "To think that I'm related to those demons, I'm nothing like them at all."

"You didn't forget what they did to me, did you?" asked Nora, her personality now turning uncharacteristically dark and serious. "How they killed my parents and made me their servant for all those years?"

"I haven't forgotten Nora." said Ren, mournfully. "I could never forget."

"Not to worry though, because that's all in the past now, right?" said Nora, suddenly changing back into her happy and cheery personality in an almost jarring manner. "It doesn't matter anymore because you're my only family now Ren. Because we're together-together, right?"

"Yeah, together-together." said Ren, sadly looking off into the distance as he recalled the events of his past.

* * *

Throughout the continent of Anima and the Kingdom of Mistral within, there could be found a wide variety of people from all walks of life, ranging from the good, to the bad, and somewhere in between. Among the worst of these was a group of individuals known as the Yaoguai Clan, a collection of some of the most vicious assassins, killers, bandits, and thieves. For several centuries, the Yaoguai Clan has been considered the Scourge of Mistral, plaguing those who lived in and around the Kingdom through their raiding, pillaging, and looting of whatever towns and settlements they came across. They were greatly feared by both humans and faunus alike, with some even believing them to be neither, and that they were actually demons in human form. In fact, just the mere mention of their name was often enough to make most people hide away in fear, afraid that the Yaoguai Clan would soon ride into their village and slaughter them all.

Whether it was done for hire or for sport, there was one thing that the Yaoguai Clan enjoyed above all else, killing, and they were exceptionally skilled at it and often took it to extreme lengths. They didn't care who they killed as long as they got a thrill out of it, and in recent years they've even assassinated members of both the Schnee Dust Company and the White Fang as part of the jobs they had taken on, making enemies out of both organizations. As result of their activities throughout the continent of Anima, the Yaoguai Clan eventually came to gain a substantial amount of power and influence within the areas outside the Kingdom of Mistral, and they used it to their advantage, often constructing many different fortresses and settlements from which they would base their power. At one point the leaders of the clan even attempted to build their own town where they could at last settle down, but it turned out to be a colossal failure after it came under attack by the Grimm. Despite their reputation among the people of Anima, even the clan was susceptible to Grimm attacks ever now and then. Even so, their depravity and brutality knew no bounds, which eventually led to some people believing the myth that at some point in their past, the original members of the Yaoguai Clan had done the unthinkable by consuming the flesh and blood of a living Grimm as part of some sort of forbidden black magic ritual in in the hopes of gaining their powers and abilities, which resulted in their twisted and demonic nature, as well as their characteristic trait of jet-black hair among all its members.

However, not every member of the Yaoguai Clan was as vicious and blood thirsty as many people believed, and occasionally there would be some individuals born within the clan who disagreed with their violent way of life and refused to kill innocent people. Individuals such as these who refused to kill usually did not survive long within the clan, often meeting their ends in battle at the hands of the clan's numerous enemies. One of these meeker and more timid individuals who originated from the Yaoguai Clan was a boy by the name of Lie Ren. Although he was born as the son to one of the clan's leaders, Lie despised his clan's vicious and bloodthirsty ways, which often led to him being shunned by the other members of his clan, unlike his older brother Lee Ren, who had an unnatural love and talent for killing people, which he greatly enjoyed doing. Many members of the clan believed that Lee was destined to one day become its future leader, being one of their most skilled and dangerous assassins.

For as long as he could remember, Lie and his brother Lee had never gotten along, mostly because Lee was often very cruel and abusive towards him, causing Lie to form a strong resentment and dislike for his older brother. In fact, Lie absolutely despised him, and always tried to make an effort to spend as little time around him as he possibly could. Even though they were family, that didn't stop Lee from doing some truly despicable things to his younger brother. From using him as a meat shield in battle, to using him as a test dummy for his new fighting techniques, to leaving him at the bottom of a deep spike pit overnight as punishment for failure and weakness, to using him as bait to attract the Grimm by wrapping a rope around his feet and dragging him along the ground as he rode on his horse, to strapping him to a spinning target as he threw knives and darts within inches of his body for target practice, to abandoning him in dangerous Grimm infested wildness in order to see if he could survive and make his way back home. Lie had absolutely no love for his brother and hated how he treated him, but there was really nothing he could do about it, because he was weak, while Lee was strong, and the other clan members paid no attention to Lie's plight and often laughed at him and mocked him as they watched from the sidelines, simply viewing it as survival of the fittest, which was the universal law of all the people who lived outside the borders of the Kingdoms.

All Lie could do was survive by toughening his spirit and letting go of all his emotions, and with each act of torture and abuse that his twisted and deranged brother inflicted upon him, he could feel himself becoming stronger, both in mind and body, and it was almost as though this were his clan's harsh way of preparing him for the life of an assassin. Lie's parents had high hopes for Lee's future, while Lie on the other hand did not seem like he would be able to live up to their standards, but even so they still expected him to follow the family tradition and become an assassin like his brother. Even though his parents still cared for him and only wanted the best for their son, Lie had no desire whatsoever to become an assassin. Many times in the past he contemplated running away and beginning a new life, as some members of the clan had occasionally done in the past, but each time he found that he just did not have the courage to do it, and was afraid that his clan would easily be able to catch him and bring him back. This was a very likely outcome, because Lie had already been taught several of the clan's secret assassination techniques by his family, so there was no way that they would ever allow him to leave with that knowledge. Feeling hopeless and seeing no way out, Lie simply accepted that it was his fate to become an assassin who would fight and die for the clan, as was expected of him. What Lie never expected however was that on one fateful day, he would meet someone who would help set him on the path to finally leaving the life of an assassin behind and finding a new path in life, that of a Huntsman.

* * *

The day started out just as any other had for Lie Ren, with this day in particular being another one in which his clan had decided to go out raiding for food and supplies, bringing Lie along with them to help. His older brother Lee commanded the raiding party as they attacked a small village in the mountains, and as per usual they were especially bloodthirsty and took things to an extreme degree. During the raid, Lie mostly kept to the back of the group as he always did, not wanting to get caught in the front lines where it would be more dangerous for him, but he also wanted to make sure to stay as far away from his brother as possible whenever he went into his blood-lusted state during the heat of battle. After Lee and the others had already taken care of most of the enemies, Lie slowly made his way into the village as well, armed with only a kunai as he quietly snaked his way through the ruins in search of food, valuables, and other spoils of war to collect and bring back home.

As Lie carried a large bag of his findings with him, he approached the ruins of another house, and as he did so he could hear what sounded like the cries of a child. Upon turning the corner and seeing where it was coming from, he spotted a little girl with orange hair, about the same age as he was, distraught and kneeling over the dead bodies of a man and a woman who both resembled her, likely her parents who had been slain in the attack. As Lie approached, the girl immediately noticed him and dashed off in fear, hiding within the ruins of her home.

"You have nothing to fear from me." said Lie, calling out to the girl. "It's alright, I won't hurt you."

"Please don't kill me." said the girl, sobbing and afraid.

"Don't worry, I'm not like those other guys that came through here earlier." said Lie. "I'm just collecting supplies like they told me to do. You're lucky it was me you came across and not my psychopathic brother."

"Go away." said the girl, throwing rocks and pieces of debris towards Lie.

Looking at this girl in her pathetic state, Lie could not help but feel bad for her, and he began to feel some degree of sympathy. After a moment's contemplation, Lie finally responded back to the girl.

"The rest of my clan will be back any minute now once they're done taking care of everyone else here." said Lie. "If you want to live, get out of here while you still can. Now is your chance, make a break for those woods nearby."

The girl stood there for a minute, not sure of what do next, and was debating as to whether she could trust Lie's words and follow his advice, or if they might just be a trick that would lead her to her death. The girl took too long to decide however, and because of that it was now too late. Lie could hear the sound of footsteps approaching from around the corner and coming towards them, and before they even spoke Lie knew exactly who it was.

"Yo Lie, what's taking you so long?" asked his older brother Lee as he appeared from around the corner, sounding annoyed. "Did you find anything good? The others have almost finished cleaning this place out."

"I did find a few useful things we could take back with us." said Lie, turning away from the girl's direction and hoping that Lee would not see her. "I think we're done here, let's go home now."

"Alright, we'll load what you found onto the horses." said Lee.

As they started to walk away, a noise that sounded as though something had fallen over came from ruins of the nearby house, causing Lee to quickly turn around, leading to him spotting the little girl as she tried to sneak away.

"What's this now?" asked Lee, surprised. "A survivor?"

"Forget about her." said Lie. "This one isn't a threat."

The girl stood there frozen in fear, staring right at Lee, and then a look of sadness and anger began to form on her face.

"You..." said the girl, glaring at Lee with hatred in her eyes. "You killed my mommy and daddy!"

"You mean those two corpses over there?" said Lee, pointing to the two bodies from before. "What of it?"

"Why did you have to kill them?" asked the girl, tears streaming down her face. "What did they ever do to you?"

"It was nothing personal." said Lee, nonchalantly. "They were in my way, so I killed them."

Unable to control her rage, the girl quickly grabbed the closest blunt object she could find, which was her father's blacksmith hammer laying on the ground nearby, and charged towards Lee with it, swinging it wildly. Not expecting this, Lee was caught off guard as the girl slammed the hammer against his knee, causing him to fall to a kneel with one leg. Now fired up from the pain, Lee retaliated by sending the girl flying with a kick from his other leg before she could hit him again.

"You've really done it now." said Lee, angrily. "Now I'm pissed off."

"Come on Lee, let's just leave her and go." said Lie, trying to convince Lee as he began to make his way towards the girl. "She's just a child, there's no need to kill her too."

As Lee approached her, the girl slowly began to rise from the ground and charged towards him again for another swing with the hammer.

"This one is tough." said Lee. "She's got spirit, I'll give her that. But spirit can easily be broken."

With one strong glare from his eyes, a heavy pressure radiated outward from Lee and into the surrounding area, causing the girl to immediately drop the hammer and fall flat to the ground, unable to resist the power of Lee's terrifying aura. Lee now drew his blade from its sheath as walked over to the girl and stood beside her as she struggled to move, ready to finish her off.

"It's not worth it Lee." said Lie, begging him to stop. "You've already beaten her. She has no way of fighting back now."

"Even if I did let her go, it's not like she'll last too long on her own." said Lee. "Pretty soon this place will be swarming with Grimm, and she'll be their next meal. Look at her, she's pathetic. I might as well put her out of her misery now."

"Why do you always have to be so cruel?" asked Lie. "What's the point of it anyway?"

"You just don't get it Lie, do you?" said Lee. "Even if we did let her go and she were somehow able to survive on her own, she'll just become a problem for us later on down the line. What do you suppose she'll want to do next once that happen? I can't even begin to count all the stories I've heard from other clan members about how they've have spared children in the past after taking pity on them, only for those same children to later grow up and seek revenge against them by taking their heads. You know that's how it usually goes Lie. That's why we should just save ourselves the trouble of having to deal with all of that in the future by nipping it in the bud."

Lee raised his blade into up the air and got ready to strike, but before he could Lie jumped in front of him and flung his body on top of the girl.

"I won't let you!" shouted Lie, shielding the girl with his body and causing Lee to stop his blade. "We've killed enough people today!"

"You've always been too soft Lie." said Lee, scolding his brother. "This is why you'll always be weak and why our parents don't think you'll make it as an assassin."

"I don't care about being an assassin." said Lie. "Not if it means having to do something like this."

Lee stood there for a moment, looking upon his brother and the little girl with disgust and contempt, but then the look on his face quickly changed, as if he suddenly had a brilliant idea come to mind, but based on past experience Lie knew that he probably would not like it, whatever it was.

"I've got an idea." said Lee, grinning menacingly. "Our clan has been running a little short on warriors recently, so we need to gain some more. With her potential, it would be a waste to just kill her, so why don't we take her back with us? If we make her a part of the clan and train her, she'll make a fine warrior one day."

"So we're taking her back with us as a captive?" asked Lie, getting up off the ground.

"Since you seem to be so fond of her Lie, maybe she could even become your future wife." said Lee, jokingly.

"My what!?" asked Lie, flustered and embarrassed.

"Keep this in mind though, she'll be your responsibility from now on." said Lee, now taking on a more stern and serious tone. "If she starts any causing trouble for us in the future, then it'll be your problem to deal with, not mine, so don't blame me if she tries to kill you."

As Lee finished speaking, he released the hold of his aura on the girl, and she began to rise from the ground. Before she could even think of trying anything, Lee jabbed her in neck muscle with two of his fingers, a move which caused the girl to suddenly feel an overwhelming sensation of sleepiness. Before she completely lost consciousness, Lee felt a slight electric shock as he pulled his fingers away, causing him to jump back in surprise.

"What's happened Lee?" asked Lie, confused.

"It's nothing." said Lee, looking away. "I just got shocked by some static electricity is all. The weather out here is pretty cold and dry today, so that's probably why."

"That's weird." said Lie. "I didn't notice any static when I was out gathering supplies here."

"Here, take her." said Lee, handing the unconscious girl over to Lie, and in return taking the bag of spoils from his brother. "Let's get going already. The others are probably waiting for us and are ready to leave. You better not fall behind, or I'll leave you and that girl here for the Grimm."

The two brothers then started to quickly make their way out of the village and back towards the location where the rest of their clan members were waiting for them, Lie carrying the girl with him the whole time. As he carried the sleeping girl in his arms, Lie began to wonder just what exactly it was that he had gotten himself into.

* * *

Not everyone within the Yaoguai Clan was related by blood, with some of its members actually originating from the numerous other lands in which the clan operated. The practice of taking captives and prisoners after their raids was not uncommon among the clan, as they often did so in order to increase the number of their warriors and slaves, and a great many of those who they captured eventually assimilated into the clan themselves and became full members. Whenever clan members were in need of a spouse, they would often take them by force, both male and female alike, from the many towns and villages that they attacked, and many of those who were kidnapped by the clan as children would often grow up to view the clan as their only family, this now being the only way of life they now knew. Unfortunately for the little girl that Lie and his brother had captured and brought back with them, such a fate now very likely awaited her as well. After bringing her back with them, the girl awoke to find herself within a small room and some food and clothes laid out on the ground next to her. Upon getting up, see took a look around and examined the place, and noticed Lie standing by the doorway.

"Hi there." said Lie, greeting her shyly. "Sorry about what happened back at your village. I tried to help you escape, but my brother just had to show up at the worst possible time. Now I guess you're stuck with us. I know things might seem bad at, but just try to make the best of it."

Without saying anything, the girl walked up to Lie and paused, and then proceeded to punch him square in the face.

"You jerk!" yelled the girl. "It's not enough that your clan killed my family, but you had to take me prisoner too?"

"I'm sorry." said Lie, sadly. "There was nothing else I could do."

"I hate all of you!" yelled the girl, crying. "You and your entire messed up clan!"

"I know." said Lie, not moving an inch as the girl continued to pummel him with her fists. "So do I..."

Lie stood there for a while and took the girl's angry blows, feeling an immense sense of guilt within him over what he and his clan had done to her village. Lie did not try to resist her punishment, because deep down inside he knew that he deserved it just as much as everyone else in his clan did. After a while, the girl tired herself out and eventually stopped, and Lie left her alone in the room, after which the girl proceeded to cry her eyes out. From now on, the girl belonged to the Yaoguai Clan, and she would now be their servant.

Although the girl had received a room of her own within the clan's fortress, it was little more than a cell, and it was there that she lived and slept whenever she was not busy with performing menial labor for the members of Lie's clan, who all treated her like a slave. The first few weeks of her stay with the clan continued on like this as their prisoner. Even though she barely spoke to anyone there, the girl never seemed to lose her strong willed personality or the fire in her spirit, which was what kept her going despite her situation. This however was mostly a facade to hide the fact that she was actually bottling up all of her anger and hatred towards the clan during the day, which she had to occasionally let loose. The one person whom she emptied all of her rage onto was Lie, who she would often beat up and attack whenever he brought her food, realizing that he was the weakest among the clan and would be an easy target for her to exact her revenge on, no matter how small, for her current situation. Whenever she did this, Lie did not try to resist at all, always taking it instead and viewing it as a form of punishment for his clan destroying her village and killing her parents.

At night however was when things were different for the girl, because whenever she was alone in her room she would often cry herself to sleep, if she could sleep at all, and she often had terrible nightmares as a result of greatly missing her dead parents, having developed a severe separation anxiety that she kept hidden during the day. Lie saw all of this when she thought nobody was around, and he could not help but feel absolutely terrible about it, and he sometimes wondered whether he should have just let his brother kill her in order to spare her this fate. Knowing all of this, Lie tried his best to make her happy and comfortable, and gradually the little girl started to see Lie as less and less of a threat and began to realize that he was different from the rest of his clan members and treated her kindly. With each visit that Lie paid her, she started to warm up to him, and eventually started to talk to him, something which she had barely done ever since she had first arrived.

"I've brought your dinner." said Lie, entering the room with a tray of food. "Don't worry everything is safe now, so there's no need to hurt me."

"So it's you again." said the girl, emerging from behind a wooden post and quickly grabbing the tray, proceeding to devour everything on it.

"If you want, it could just be me that brings you your food." said Lie. "That way you don't have to deal with those other jerks."

"This still doesn't change the fact that I hate all of you for what you did." said the girl.

"I know." said Lie, looking sadly at the girl.

"Then why do you even bother treating me so nicely?" asked the girl. "It's not like it will change anything about my situation. I'm just a servant to all of you, nothing more."

"Because I refuse to be like them." said Lie. "I won't become someone who preys on the weak and innocent. I don't want to become a killer like the rest of my clan members are."

"Then why don't you just run away if you hate them so much?" asked the girl. "It should be easy for you since you aren't locked up like I am."

"Where would I even go?" asked Lie. "I don't know any other place but here. I wouldn't even survive one day out there on my own. This life here is all that I know, whether I like it or not."

"Then you're just as much of a prisoner as I am." said the girl. "You're trapped here just like me."

"I guess you're right." said Lie. "But I'm mostly trapped here because of my own weakness. I don't even have the courage to run away."

"I'm sorry I beat you up earlier." said the girl, now feeling somewhat sorry for Lie.

"Why would you be?" asked Lie. "I deserve it, both for being weak, and for what my clan did to your family."

"When we first met, I didn't realize you were just trying to help me." said the girl. "I was just so mad at the unfairness of my whole situation, and that was the only way I really knew how to express my frustration about it."

"I get some pretty rough treatment here too, even from my own family." said Lie. "But you know what they say, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger."

"Then is surviving all we can really do at this point?" asked the girl.

"That's just how life is here outside the kingdoms, harsh and unforgiving." said Lie. "You survive, or you die. But you don't have to do it alone. If we're both in the same boat, then why fight each other? Surviving is much easier if you have a friend by your side to help you out. It makes things much more bearable."

"Does this mean you want to help me survive?" asked the girl.

"I do." said Lie. "If we work together, things will turn out better for us. We might even be able to find a way to change our situation."

"So there's a way out of this?" asked the girl, her spirit lifting and her eyes filling with hope. "If we survive together?"

"We will." said Lie. "As long as we're together, I won't let any harm come to you."

"Do you promise?" asked the girl.

"I promise." said Lie.

"Then we'll swear on it." said the girl. "Swear that we'll always stick together, no matter what."

The girl held out her pinky finger, and Lie held out his and wrapped it around hers.

"Together." said Lie.

"Together." said the girl.

"Since we can be friends now, I guess I should at least tell you my name, since I never got the chance to tell you before." said Lie. "My name is Lie Ren. So, what's your name?"

The girl sat there for a moment, not knowing what to say next.

"My name?" asked the girl, confused.

"You do have one don't you?" asked Lie. "What were you called before you came here? I want to be able to call you by your real name, not your title of servant that the others here call you."

"I'm Nora." said the girl. "Valkyrie was the last name my parents had, so I guess that makes it my last name too."

"Well Nora, it was nice to finally get to know you, even if we had a rough start." said Lie. "Anyway, I'm going to bed now. I'll see you again tomorrow."

"Wait, don't go yet." said Nora.

"What is it?" asked Lie.

"I'm scared to go to sleep." said Nora. "I'm afraid I'll have another nightmare. I've been having a lot of them ever since I came here."

"I don't know how to help you with that." said Lie.

"Whenever I'd have nightmares, my mom and dad would always stay with me until I could fall back asleep." said Nora. "Didn't your parents ever do that for you?"

"I don't really get nightmares." said Lie.

"I guess that's because you already live in one." said Nora.

"What do you want me to do?" asked Lie.

"Will you stay here with me until I fall asleep?" asked Nora. "It would make me feel better."

"Fine, I'll do it." said Lie, somewhat irked. "Since I'll be here for a while, I guess we could talk some more. We'll start with something simple. What is your favorite color?"

"My favorite color is pink." said Nora. "What about yours?"

"My favorite color is green." said Lie. "It has a nice earthy feel to it."

As the hours passed by, the two continued to chat and gradually began to learn more about each other, until eventually Nora was finally able to fall asleep. Feeling exhausted and too tired to go back to his own room, Lie fell asleep next to her.

* * *

With their promise to remain together forever and survive no matter what, Lie and the girl known as Nora quickly bonded and became good friends as the weeks passed by, and as they did, a happier and bubblier personality began to show itself in Nora. While unexpectedly jarring to Lie at first, he eventually came to find out that this was actually Nora's natural personality, as she had not been herself since being captured by Lie's clan, and was now finally starting to return to her old self. Now that Nora had a friend by her side, she found herself feeling much less bothered by her situation than she had before, and she did not really seem to mind it all that much now that Lie was with her. Lie too began to find his days feeling much brighter with Nora around, and he was surprised to find that he now actually looked forward to each and every new day that came rather than dreading them as he had done before meeting Nora. The two of them seemed very happy together, and it was as if their presences somehow completed each other by filling in a piece that the other was lacking, and from then on they were nearly inseparable, or as they called it _"together-together"_.

A few years passed for Lie and Nora seemingly in the blink of an eye, and in that time they slowly began to train themselves and gradually improve their skills in combat in order to increase their chances of survival, and together they were both able to accomplish what they normally would not have done alone. As a result, the clan members eventually even stopped bothering Nora now that she had become too strong for them to pick on, and so they began to tolerate her presence within the clan along with that of Lie, who had also grown in strength alongside her. Now that they were perfectly capable of fending for themselves, the clan saw a greater use for Lie and Nora, and began to bring them along with them to fight with them in their raids. Although finding no joy in it, they did so begrudgingly, but unlike the other clan members they made sure to spare those who they fought against by inflicting non-fatal injuries upon them. It was in the aftermath of one of these raids that the two now found themselves, and as they were taking on the last of their opponents, Nora used her fists to send out a jolt of electricity into each of their bodies, knocking them unconscious.

"I think that was the last of them." said Nora, smiling. "Now we just collect the loot and go home."

"You definitely seem to be getting the hang of your Semblance now." said Lie, congratulating Nora. "Its strength has grown a lot in these past few months. It took me a lot longer to master mine."

"Come to think of it, what is your Semblance anyway Lie?" asked Nora, now curious. "I don't think I've ever once seen you use it before in battle."

"It's not exactly something that would be useful in a direct battle like this." said Lie. "It's great for stealth and reconnaissance and other situations where you don't want to be seen, which is why the clan always makes me do those sorts of jobs when we go out raiding.

"Is it really?" asked Nora, curious. "What does it do?"

"You've actually seen me use it before, you just didn't know it." said Lie. "My Semblance masks and erases my presence and makes me virtually invisible to all living creatures in my vicinity. The fact that you've never realized it whenever I activated it means it's doing its job, though it's not really something that I'm too proud of."

"Why is that?" asked Nora. "I thought a Semblance was something that you would be happy about? It's something that is uniquely yours."

"It's because of why I had to learn it that I don't like it." said Lie. "My Semblance is something that many people would consider to be the perfect tool for assassination and killing, just like just like the Semblances of all the other members of my clan. In fact, it's because of this that my parents first made me learn and master it when I was a child as part of my training to become an assassin. Even if it's useful for other things besides killing, the very fact that it is seen by my clan as something that should be used as a tool for taking the lives of others really bothers me. That's why I don't like to use it often, because it represents to me everything that I don't want to be."

"Maybe if you're lucky, you won't ever end up having to use it." said Nora. "If you become skilled enough by training all of your other combat skills, then you won't even have to rely on it."

"Even if that is the case, it won't change anything." said Lie. "We'll still be stuck here doing the same thing we've been doing up until now, for the rest of our lives."

"So what if we do?" asked Nora. "How else will we survive in this world? At least if we continue doing this nobody else will die because of the clan's raids."

"That's not the point Nora." said Lie.

"Then what is?" asked Nora.

"This life we've been living up until now, aren't you starting to get tired of it?" asked Lie. "I know I am. Being forced by the clan to fight, steal, and kill just to get by. I don't want to live like this anymore. I want to do something different with my life, something better. I don't want to be a killer and a thief."

"I feel the same way." said Nora. "But what can we really do about it? This is the only way of life we know. It's a harsh and cruel world out there, and whether we like it or not the clan is the only thing that has kept us safe all this time."

"It doesn't have to stay this way for us." said Lie. "Out here it may be dangerous, but not in the Kingdoms."

"What are you getting at?" asked Nora, curious.

"We could run away." said Lie. "Far away, to the Kingdom, where the clan can never find us. We'll be much safer there than we are here, and we can start a new life, the two of us together. With our skills in combat and fighting, we could even become Huntsmen, just like the ones we would sometimes encounter and fight in our raids. Like me, I know that you've always been fascinated by them."

"It's because they all seem so free." said Nora. "Free to do whatever they want, and go wherever they want, and no one can tell them how to live their lives."

"By becoming Huntsmen, we could put our skills to good use by protecting people from the Grimm instead of hurting them. At least that way me can make up for all the bad things the clan has made us do for them."

"Even if we did try to escape, we won't make it very far." said Nora. "The clan will probably catch us before we can even come close to reaching the Kingdoms, and then they'll just bring us right back."

"That might have been the case back then, but now we're stronger and more experienced." said Lie. "They won't be able to stop us this time. I might have been too scared to try it back then, but not anymore. I think we can actually do it this time if we really put our heads together and use every bit of our strength and cunning."

"Are you sure this is what you really want Lie?" asked Nora. "Whatever it is you choose to do, just know that I'll be right there by your side to help you go through with it."

"This is what I want." said Lie. "More than anything."

"Then let's do it." said Nora, smiling. "Take me as far away from this place as you can Lie. Let's run away and never look back. I don't care where we go, as long as I'm with you I'll be fine."

"Of course." said Lie. "We'll always be together, no matter what."

"Together-together." said Nora, who now seemed very happy.

* * *

After being with the clan for so long, the two of them were quickly beginning to tire of living their lives like this, and things were only starting to look much worse for Lie and Nora. Over the years, the clan had been forced to constantly migrate from one home to another due to frequent Grimm attacks. As a result of these attacks, they often went back and forth periods of great highs where they lived the good life in a village as assassins and ninjas for hire, to periods of extreme lows where they had to resort to raiding villages in the countryside as bandits and thieves in order to survive in the harsh steppes of Anima. It was in one of these past Grimm attacks that tragedy struck and Lie lost his parents, the entire village being destroyed in a single night and the only survivors being Lie and Nora, who had managed to narrowly escape death due to the use of Lie's Semblance.

The majority of the clan's strongest members had been away at the time, including his brother Lee and their uncle, who retrieved them from the ruins afterwards and took them in as part of his branch of the clan and they began anew the process of finding a new home. They eventually found a new, more secure home high in the mountain cliffs, which was more of a fortress than anything else, and with his uncle now leading the clan it seemed like a very likely possibility that Lee would eventually take over as the new leader of the clan in the near future as his power and influence continued to grow. An outcome like this would not bode well for either of them, and after years of living with this it began to take its toll on them, and now more than ever the thought of running away from the clan began to cross their minds. Lie found himself feeling more courageous and open to the thought than he had been in his youth, because now he had something, or more specifically someone, to live for and for who he would risk his life, and after the death of his parents she was now the only person left in the clan that he cared about. However Lie planned to do it, Nora would definitely be willing to go through with it, because to her it did not matter where she went or what she did, as long as she could be together with Lie she would be happy.

The two of them began to carefully plan their escape and work out every detail as they made the necessary preparations, and when the day came at last they made a break for it, finally leaving behind their old lives to start anew by using the skills they had learned and honed to become Huntsmen. They took with then food, weapons, and everything else they would need to survive, after which they fled from the clan's fortress and ran as far away as they could, making their way through the wilderness as the other clan members inevitably pursued them in order to bring them back. However it was as Lie had anticipated, and through their skill and cunning, as well as familiarity with the clan's methods and tactics, Lie and Nora were able to avoid being found and captured by the clan members. One by one they all began to give up and turn back, certain that the two of them would surely die as they headed deeper into the Grimm infested wilderness, no longer thinking it was worth it to pursue them. Finally believing themselves to be in the clear, Lie and Nora took a moment to relax as they slowed down their pace and entered into a large, heavily forested valley, but little did they realize they were still being followed by one especially persistent individual, Lie's brother Lee Ren.

"This looks like a good place for us to rest for the time being." said Lie. "I think we've lost them, for now at least."

"I can't believe we did it!" said Nora, surprised and happy. "It actually worked! We're free now!"

"Don't celebrate just yet." said Lie. "We still have to make it out of these woods alive and survive long enough to reach civilization in the Kingdoms."

"Alright then, we'll watch each other's backs." said Nora. "I'll be sure to stay close..."

Before Nora could finish her sentence, a rattling noise could be heard as the trees behind them were suddenly sliced in half by the scythe blade of a long chain-like weapon, which passed through and struck the ground inbetween them, and then it was immediately pulled back to its source. Startled by this, Lie and Nora quickly turned around to see where the weapon had come from, and to their horror they spotted Lee Ren perched on the branch of a nearby tree, wielding the chain scythe that had almost cut them in half a moment earlier.

"Looks like I finally caught up to you Lie." said Lee, grinning menacingly. "That was quite the chase you gave us."

"Great, the one person I was hoping we wouldn't run into." said Lie, sighing.

"I didn't you'd make it this far." said Lee. "Everyone else already gave up and went home, now it's just you and me."

"You should have gone back with them." said Lie. "Just leave us alone already Lee."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." said Lee. "I've come to take you back."

"I don't want to go back." said Lie. "We're through with the clan Lee, and we're sick of your crap. We want to start a new life."

"Your weakness has always brought shame upon our clan." said Lee, disgusted. "Now you bring further shame to us by running away with that slave girl. I know we taught you better than this."

"Taught me what?" said Lie. "To become an assassin that takes the lives of others? I want no part in that. I don't care if that's what they expect of me."

"Okay then, how exactly do you plan on surviving out here once you've escaped?" asked Lee. "It's a cruel and dangerous word out there. You don't realize how good you actually have it living with us Lie. There are some real monsters out there, and I don't just mean the Grimm. The people of the Kingdoms look down on people like us who come from outside the borders. Just come back home already. Like it or not, we're the only family you've got."

"There's no home for me back there with all of you." said Lie, who then turned to Nora. "My true family is right here beside me."

"Oh really?" said Lee, laughing. "And what do you suppose you and your _"family"_ will do once you reach the Kingdoms?"

"We'll become Huntsmen." said Lie. "We'll use our skills for a good cause, to protect innocent people from the Grimm. We'll meet all sorts of new people and maybe even make a few friends, friends who will accept me for who I am, unlike you and the rest of the clan."

"Do you really think they'll accept you out there?" asked Lee. "Admit it Lie, you're a natural born killer through and through, just like me, and you know it. They'll never accept you for who you really are. The people of the Kingdoms hate and despise our clan because of all the things we do. Once these _"friends"_ of yours find out what you really are, they'll all just abandon you one by one, until you're all alone in the world. Assassins like us don't have friends. We don't need them. They'll just get in the way and end up dying. It's better to just save yourself the trouble that comes with them."

"That may be how you see, but not me." said Lie. "Unlike you, I don't see friends as simply tools to use for your own gain."

"You're putting me in a very difficult situation Lie." said Lee, putting his hand on his face. "Even so, you know I can't just let you walk away free like this. You possess knowledge of all our clan's secret assassination techniques. We can't afford to risk that knowledge leaking and spreading to the outside world, whether it's from you teaching it to others, or from it being tortured out of you by our enemies."

"I'm not that weak to let something like that happen to me." said Lie. "I've grown much stronger over these past few years. I don't even need those techniques they taught me, nor do I have any intention of using them ever again. I'll rely on my own strength from now on."

"Don't make me kill you." said Lee, his voice now suddenly taking on a more stern and serious tone. "I really don't want to do this, but you leave me no choice Lie."

With that Lee had enough and threw the chain scythe towards Lie, who barely dodged it in time as it smashed into the ground. After jumping back to where Nora was, Lie drew his sword and Nora pulled out her axe, both of them now ready to do battle with Lee.

"Fine then, I guess we'll do this the hard way!" said Lee, now losing his patience. "I'm going to enjoy wiping the slate clean by eliminating a weakling like you from our clan. This is something I should have done this a long time ago."

Lie knew that once Lee got into his blood lusted state that there would be almost no stopping him until he calmed down, so now they had no choice but to fight their way past him in order to escape. Lee clashed with Lie and Nora, exchanging blows with the pair as he wildly slashed at them with the scythe blade of his weapon, as well attacking them with its chain in an attempt to throw them off balance. They tried their best to avoid Lee's attacks, but were unable to get close enough to even attempt a counterattack due to the wide range of the chain. All they could really do was dodge and evade the attacks of Lee's weapons while putting some distance between themselves. They were not in a good position, as their current weapons were only capable of close combat, while Lee's weapon could attack over a much larger range, a fact which Lee was likely well aware of and had planned from the start.

"Stay back Nora." said Lie. "I'll handle him. This fight is between me and him."

"But he's too strong." said Nora. "Let me help you."

"Trust me, you need to stay back." said Lie. "For your own good, it'll be safer this way."

"Hey Lie, I'll tell you what." said Lie, having an idea and stopping his attacks for a moment to speak. "If you really want to leave that badly, then here's what I'll do. If you can defeat me here in battle, then I'll let you go, but if I defeat you, then you have to come back home with me to the clan. How does that sound?"

"As if I could trust a promise like that coming from you." said Lie. "How do I know you'll even keep your word? You're probably planning something."

"Your right, it does sound too good to be true." said Lee, grinning. "Because there's no way you'll ever be able to beat me."

Lee then headed straight for Lie and resumed his attack, well aware of what his brother was going to do next. This time Lee proceeded to activate his Semblance, and by thrusting the palm of his hand forward he sent out an invisible shock wave that Lie barely dodged in time before it reached him, which caused the trunk of the tree behind him to explode. The air around Lie and Nora began to feel much heavier than before, as if some great force was weighing them down and attempting to force them to the ground. The two tried their best to resist the effects of Lee's Semblance of Subjugation and contained to push forward, avoiding the attacks of Lee's weapon, which created deep impact creators wherever they struck, no doubt the result of Lee channeling the power of his Semblance through his weapon. Lie evaded as best as he could, but the scythe blade of Lee's weapon still managed to slash him several times as it grazed by him, all the while Nora stood back, watching and waiting for an opportunity to strike.

"I know what game you're playing at Lee." said Lie. "The only reason you're doing this is because you're hoping that I'll _"accidentally"_ die in the process. You know that if I die here, then it'll mean that you'll finally be able to take over as clan leader, because all potential rivals to your claim to power will either be dead or on your side."

"That's very perceptive of you Lie." said Lee, with a guilty smile. "You're the one loose end that I have left to take care of."

"I bet you were ecstatic when mom and dad died." said Lie. "You and the rest of the clan could have easily come to help when that Grimm attacked our village, and they'd still be alive today, but you happened to conventionally show up only after everyone else was already dead. That's no coincidence. You took advantage of the situation to further your own goals."

"You've got me." said Lee, unapologetic. "When we heard the that village was under attack, I immediately rushed back home, but then once I got there all I could do was just stand watch from on top of the cliffs. It wasn't because I was too afraid to do anything, or that I just didn't care, but..."

"Then why did you do it?" asked Lie. "Why did you let the whole village get destroyed when you could have done something?"

"You want to know why I just stood there and watched?" said Lee. "Seeing all that death and destruction going on, watching all those people dying and get devoured by the Grimm... it made me so hard! The whole time it turned me on!"

"You deranged psychopath!" shouted Lie, shocked and angered. "I always knew you were crazy, but you're out of your mind! I can't believe that the two of us are actually brothers!"

"We may have different fathers, but we still have the same mother, so we are indeed brothers." said Lee. "Even if my birth was the result of her being..."

"That's enough out of you!" shouted Lie, enraged.

"Did I hit a nerve?" asked Lee, mockingly. "What, can't bear to hear the truth about dear old mommy?"

"Shut up!" yelled Lie.

"Why was it always you!" asked Lee, enraged. "What is it about you that makes you so special? Why is it that despite how weak pitiful you are our parents always showed you such love and praise? They never showed me the same love and praise. Instead they only showed me scorn and disdain. Was I not worthy of their love? Was it because of the origin of my birth? Was it because they just didn't want me and wished that I wasn't their child?"

This time it was Lie who charged forward for an attack, wildly slashing at Lee's defenses. This was not good for Lie, because Lee now had him flustered and angry, which was likely his intent, and now he was more likely to slip up and make a mistake. For the time being Lee seemed to have the upper hand, being more skilled and experienced, and he was slowly beginning to wear Lie down, and when he finally saw an opportunity Lee wrapped the chain of his weapon around Lie's legs, throwing him off balance and causing him to trip and fall to the ground.

"Looks like you've lost this battle Lie." said Lee, mocking Lie, who then began to walk over to Lie with the blade of his weapon raised and ready to strike. "I guess I'm taking you back now after all. Maybe I should cut the tendons in your ankles first. That way you won't be able to run away for a while."

As Nora watched, she could see no other course of action, and so she immediately rushed over to save Lie. It was no use however, because as Lee turned his attention towards Nora he sent the chain of his weapon towards her and managed to wrap it around the handle of her axe, yanking it out of her hands and sending it flying away where it embedded itself into the side of a tree.

"You, I should have killed you when I had the chance." said Lee, pointing the blade of his weapon towards Nora. "That's a mistake that I'm about to fix right now. This is all your fault! You've corrupted my little brother by putting him under your spell."

Now defenseless, all Nora could do was attempt to block Lee's attacks with her arms as the blade of his weapon continued to slash at her, cutting her in several places on her body, including her back where it left a huge gash. Despite all of this, Nora stood there strong and resolute, firmly refusing to move from that spot as she protected Lie and shielded him with her body, preventing Lee from taking a single step closer.

"How do you still have the strength to keep standing there?" asked Lee, now beginning to sound frustrated. "Why do you refuse to flee and save yourself, even when it would be so much easier to just run away?"

"It's because I have something much more important than my life that I want to protect." said Nora. "Lie once did the same thing for me when he stopped you from killing me all those years ago. There's no way I'll abandon him here and just let you take him back to that place that's caused him so much pain and misery. He's suffered enough already. I won't let you take him away from me like you did my parents. I'm getting him out of here no matter what, to someplace where you can't hurt him anymore!"

"My, you're a brave little one aren't you?" said Lee, his face now contorting with anger. "Just try it then, be my guest!"

Lee resumed his attacks with a savage ferocity comparable to that of a demon. His anger was now starting to get the better of him, and he was beginning to slip up with his attacks. This was just the opportunity that Nora was waiting for, but she would only have one shot at this if she wanted to save Lie. She began to run straight at Lee, forcing him to swing his weapon towards her for an attack. Right as the chain approached her, Nora reached out with her hand and grabbed the chain tightly as it wrapped around her arm. Now that she had his weapon firmly in her grasp, Nora wasted no time and immediately activated her Semblance, channeling electricity through the chain of the weapon towards Lee. As it reached him, Lee was zapped with a painful jolt of electricity, but he managed to drop his weapon to the ground just in time before it caused his muscles to lock up and knock him unconscious.

"Ah, how could I forget." said Lee, now remembering. "The wasp has a stinger. It doesn't matter, I don't need a weapon to kill you anyway. I'm a skilled assassin after all, so my hands will do just fine."

Lee rushed towards Nora, extending his arm outwards and straightening the fingers of his hand into the shape of a knife. He began to channel his aura into the tips of his fingers and aimed them right at Nora's throat. With the things Lee was capable of doing with his aura, they would almost certainly cut right through the veins of Nora's neck and kill her. Nora' attack had failed halfway through, and she was now out of options to fight back. She would not be able to dodge Lee's attack in time, and if she tried to move he would still be able to reach her, so all she could do now was brace herself for an attack that would most likely kill her. About to close her eyes and embrace the end, Nora was surprised to see that at the very last moment Lie had suddenly appeared in the corner of her vision, seemingly out of nowhere, and came straight at Lee from the side with his sword, slashing him right down the right side of the face. Lee immediately jumped back from Nora, crying out in pain and cursing Lie, having failed to notice Lie approaching because he had used his Semblance to mask his presence. The injury that Lee had just received from Lie was a deep one, and it would mostly likely leave a nasty permanent scar once it healed up.

"Damn you Lie, you bastard!" screamed Lee. "You're a back stabbing traitor!"

Lee then turned to Lie and tried to stab him with his fingers, but before he could, Nora activated her Semblance again and punched Lee right in the gut with an electrically charged fist, sending him flying back into the trunk of a tree.

"Now's our chance Nora!" said Lie. "Run! Let's get out of here while we still can!"

The two of them immediately began to dash off in the opposite direction from Lee, running as far away as they possibly could before he got back up, Nora collecting her axe in the process before they left. As they were running and had made it a good distance away, Lie could still hear Lee's voicing yelling out to him before they were too far away to hear it.

"This isn't over Lie!" yelled Lee. "I won't forget this, none of us will! You've disgraced our clan and brought humiliation upon us. I'll get you back for this, just you wait! It doesn't matter where you go or where you hide! Someday, somehow I'll find you and take my revenge..."

Lie and Nora were now too far away for Lee to be able to follow in his injured state, and they finally slowed their pace, the adrenaline just beginning to wear off.

"We did it Lie, for real this time." said Nora, smiling weakly. "Now we can start a new life in the Kingdoms, together-together..."

As Nora's pace slowed down, she was overcome by a sudden sense of weakness all over her body as she tried to make her way to Lie. She took a few more steps and then finally felt her legs give out and she fell to the ground, her injuries now starting to ache.

"Nora, are you alright?" asked Lie, rushing over to Nora as she lay on the ground.

"I can't move my body." said Nora, barely able to speak as her speech started to slur. "My injuries are starting to hurt now that we've gotten away."

"Oh no, this isn't good." said Lie, finally realizing what was going on.

"What's happening to me Lie?" asked Nora.

"This is why I told you stay back when I was fighting Lee." said Lie. "The blade of his weapon had poison on it, and he cut you with it so many times. He was probably hoping this would happen."

"It was poisoned?" asked Nora, confused, her body now starting to shiver. "But how can that be? You were cut just as many times as I was, but you're perfectly fine."

"It's because the poison has no effect on me." said Lie. "I'm immune to it, just like my brother is. Part of our training to become assassins was to slowly build up an immunity to all sorts of poisons that we might encounter during our missions. We did it by ingesting small quantities of each poison over time so that our bodies would slowly create antibodies for them. I guess that's one thing I can thank assassin training for."

"Am I going to die?" asked Nora, sounding worried. "It's not fair. Right when we finally get our freedom this has to happen."

"You're not going to die." said Lie, reassuring her. "I won't let you die now, not after everything we've already been through."

"Please help me." said Nora, starting to cry. "My whole body feels like it's on fire."

"I think know which poison Lee used." said Lie. "It's the venom of a very deadly and nasty type of King Taijitu Grimm."

"Is there an antidote for it?" asked Nora, now in severe pain."

"Yes, there is, and I already have it right here with me." said Lie, smiling. "It might be painful at first, but if want to survive you'll have to stay strong and survive long enough for it to start working. You'll have to be brave Nora."

Lie then held his hand out over Nora and proceeded to pull out a dagger from the sheath on his belt, the same one his father had given to him before he died. Pausing for a moment, he then used the dagger to make a large cut across his palm, waiting until the blood started to flow out.

* * *

The next few days were some of the worst that Nora had ever experienced in her life due to the high fever and constant pain she was in, her entire body switching back and forth between sensations of extreme heat and extreme cold. The two of them were now camped out inside of a cave that Lie had found within the forest, and after carrying Nora into it he had been caring for her there in the hopes that she would recover. In order for her survive the poison's effects and live, Lie had slowly been giving Nora small doses of his own blood to drink in order help her gradually build up an immunity to the poison, hoping that the introduction of his antibodies would help Nora's body to start creating some of its own to combat the poison and eliminate it. Throughout the whole ordeal, Lie never left Nora's side even once, holding her hand as she screamed out in pain during the day, and holding her close to him as she shivered during the night in order to keep her body warm and prevent her from getting hypothermia as a result of all the body heat she lost. Lie was determined to make sure that Nora would not die, and he did everything he could to make sure of it. The two of them had finally gained their freedom from the clan, and Lie was not about to let this become the price they would have to pay for it.

After several grueling days of caring for Nora and tending to all of her injuries, she finally began to show signs of healing and started to make a full recovery, the only remnant of her painful ordeal now being the scar on her back from Lee's blade. After continuing to drink the antidote created from Lie's blood, her body was eventually able to develop a sufficient enough immunity to the poison and eliminate it. Deciding to take a break, Lie now found himself at the edge of as stream by the cave, washing his face in the water. Mesmerized by how crystal-clear it was, he took a moment to study his reflection in the water, examining the pink streak in his hair. As he sat there, he was too distracted to notice that Nora had gotten up and was now making her way towards him, and upon reaching him she leaned down and wrapped her arms around Lie from behind, resting her head on his shoulders.

"Boop." said Nora excitedly, reaching around and poking Lie on the nose.

"I'm glad to see you're finally up." said Lie, smiling.

"What are you doing?" asked Nora.

"Just looking at my reflection." said Lie. "I never realized up until now how noticeable this pink streak in my hair is."

"You think so?" asked Nora. "But that's always been there, hasn't it?"

"Not always." said Lie. "I wasn't born with it, but it never seems to go away no matter how much I try to wash it out or cut it off."

"Where did it come from then?" asked Nora, curious.

"It first appeared after I had gone through my special training to become immune to poisons by drinking small amounts of them in order to develop antibodies." said Lie. "I think it was probably the result my aura reacting with all the poisons, because ever since then it's been there. Nobody else in my clan has one, they all have pure jet black hair. I kind of like it, because it makes me feel a little different from everyone else in my clan."

"Don't feel ashamed of your roots." said Nora. "You may not have liked the thought of being trained as an assassin, but something good did come out of it in the end."

"What do you mean?" asked Lie. "How could anything good have come out of that life?"

"That very same blood that flows inside your veins, the blood of your clan that you hate so much, that's what saved me." said Nora. "If not for that, I would be dead right now. It's pretty ironic now that you think about it. Something that was originally meant to help you in your job of killing people ended up saving a life instead."

"I never thought of it like that." said Lie, surprised by the thought.

"I really like the color." said Nora. "Now every time you see it, you can think of me and how you saved me from the poison, instead of being reminded of your clan."

"You're favorite color always was pink." said Lie, laughing.

"Do you know what else saving me with your blood means?" asked Nora, sitting down next to Lie.

"No." said Lie. "What does it mean?"

"Something very special." said Nora. "Among the people of the land where I came from, it is believed that when two friends share their blood like we did, a blood pact is formed between them for life and they are from then on considered to be family. If that's true, and you gave me your blood to drink, then that makes the two of us sworn family now."

"Family huh?" said Lie, looking down at the healed cut on his palm.

"We'll start a new life together now, as family." said Nora. "Today is a new beginning for us."

Nora then pulled out the pin that held up her long orange hair tied into a bun and let it all fall down to her back. Grabbing hold of her hair, she held it in her hands as she picked up Lie's dagger and used it to cut it off into shorter length, after which she dropped the severed locks of her hair into the water and watched them float away.

"It's a promise then." said Lie. "We'll leave the past behind and move on. From now on, I promise to never use the assassination techniques my clan taught me ever again. Maybe I'll use them on the Grimm, but never on people. Also, if we're going to start fresh, you don't have to call me by my first name anymore, just Ren is fine."

"Now we can finally fulfill our dreams of becoming Huntsmen." said Nora. "We'll join one of the Huntsmen academies, together."

"Yes, we'll do it together." said Ren, grabbing hold of Nora's hand.

"Together-together." said Ren and Nora.

With that, Ren and Nora's servitude to the Yaoguai Clan ended for good and they finally gained their freedom. Afterwards, the two of them set out into the Kingdoms to start on their goal of becoming Huntsmen, training themselves day by day in preparation for this goal and eventually creating the weapons that they would use in their careers as Huntsmen. In the meantime, they found themselves living in a small village in Vale with an elderly couple who had taken them in, seeing as they lacked a home to call their own. They treated Ren and Nora like their own children and in turn they were grateful to them, and the days they spent living together in that village were some of the happiest they had ever experienced in their lives. A few years passed, and the time came when the two of them finally applied for Beacon Academy, the place where they would form Team JNPR and meet Team RWBY, and where their true adventures would begin. Their days were now peaceful, and the painful past that the two of them shared had now become a distant and forgotten memory, however one thing still bothered Ren despite all of this.

In the very back of his mind, Ren always remembered his brother's final words to him before he escaped, that he would one day find him and take his revenge on them. Ren never forgot his words, and always wondered whether he might suddenly pop back into his life when he least expected it, a prospect that sometimes worried Ren. Nora on the other hand thought that Ren was simply being paranoid and that there was nothing for him to worry about because they were now safe in the Kingdoms, and seeing as the clan had completely given up on chasing after them and they had not heard from them since, they likely no longer cared. Even so, Ren still held some degree of doubt in his mind, because he knew Lee better than anyone else, and he knew just how crazy, psychopathic, and obsessive his older brother could be when it came to killing and the thrill of the hunt, and he would not put it past Lee to one day to try and get back at them in some way.

* * *

 **There you have it, the long awaited backstory of Ren and Nora that I had been planning since I first started writing this story. This has probably been the most challenging and difficult chapter of this fan fiction that I have had to write, mostly because of how unique and different it is from all the previous chapters. I put a lot of thought into the making of this in order to properly explain and show why Ren and Nora are the way that they are now. To tell you all the truth, I think this might be the last chapter of this fan fiction that I release, at least for a very long time. I only had enough ideas for this story up until this point, and while I do have a few cool ides for things I could possibly try (like maybe having Team GALE do something awesome), they still are not enough to make anything concrete. This story is effectively complete at this point, but that does not necessarily mean that it will stay that way forever. The possibility is definitely open that I could one day revisit this story and add more to it, though I would have to change and tweak a lot of things for it to work and fit within the canon of RWBY. Maybe once Volume 4 finishes some new ideas might come to me, but don't hold your breath. I already had to change and tweak quite a few things about this chapter, mostly by adding in the bit about Lie's parents dying when his village was attacked by Grimm, so that the differences between the two versions of his backstory would not be so jarring and contradictory that it distracts from the narrative.**

 **This chapter also had a whole lot of interesting references and allusions that a lot of you might not have noticed. Starting with Ren and Nora, the whole scene around Lie having to save her from the poison is a direct reference to the deaths of Hua Mulan and Thor, who Ren and Nora are based on (it's also pretty ironic that in the actual Volume 4 Qrow ends up getting poisoned in a similar way and by a character very similar to Lee, but that's just a coincidence and I had this plot point in mind way before that episode came out). First off, the reference to Thor's death is much more obvious, because in Norse mythology Thor meets his end during Ragnarok when he finally defeats and kills the Midgard Serpent** **Jormungand, but at a heavy cost, as Thor is only able to take a few steps afterwards before collapsing and dying from Jormungand's poison.**

 **Moving on to the reference to Hua Mulan's death, this one is much less obvious. In many versions of her story, Hua Mulan dies by committing suicide, choosing to die rather than become a concubine to the Mongol ruler who invaded China and took over the throne. The way in which she committed suicide is in debate though, with the various versions of the story all saying something different, but the one that appears most commonly is that Hua Mulan drank poison to end her life, which is referenced by the fact that Ren drank all sorts of poisons as a child in order to build up an immunity to them. This practice of drinking small doses of poison over a period time in order to develop immunity through antibodies is actually a thing in real life that is known as mithridatism. Throughout history, mithridatism has been employed by many people, from royals who feared being poisoned by rivals to the throne, to shinobi trying to get an extra edge over their enemies in battle. The blood of those who have developed antibodies to various poisons through the use mithridatism can also be a very potent antidote to those poisons, and their blood can be used in emergencies to help someone who has been bitten by a venomous creature when no anti-venom is readily available to use.**

 **Going off of that, Nora's statement about her and Ren now being family because they shared blood with each other may be confusing to some, but it actually has a basis in some real world ancient cultural practices. Among the Vikings and Norsemen of Scandinavia, there was something known as a blood oath, where in which two warriors would perform a ritual in which they would make cuts on their hands and shake them, allowing their blood to mix together, and from then on they become blood brothers and were considered family. Similarly, there was also a superstition among the Celts that if the blood of someone unrelated to you were to touch your lips, then from that point on that person was considered to be related to you by blood. In fact if I remember correctly, there was one Celtic story in which a druid woman who was in love with a man and wanted stop him from marrying someone else so that she could have him all to herself, but after accidentally wounding him she had to suck the poison out of his injury to save him, but to her shock she then realized that because of what she had done, she could no longer marry him because he was now related to her by blood and it would be considered incest to do so (someone please tell me what the name of this story is, because I forgot the name of the characters).**

 **As for the last of the references, the name of Ren's clan is the Yaoguai clan, and in Chinese Yaoguai is word that generally means demon, which is very fitting considering how his clan are viewed as demons by the people of Mistral that they preyed on. I also partially based the Yaoguai clan on the Mongols of Genghis Khan, who were a group of horse riding nomads that were especially feared for their brutality and nearly conquered all of the civilized world through their raids and campaigns. On another note, now that I look back on this little backstory, I'm actually of surprised to see how similar to Tyrian that Ren's brother Lee turned out to be, and this was before Tyrian was even revealed at the start of Volume 4. Lee and Tyrian have very similar personalities and attitudes to each other, both love fighting and killing, and even look kind of similar, but Lee is probably not as unhinged as Tyrian is, though he does occasionally have some psychotic episodes. After meeting Tyrian, Ren would probably have a strong dislike for him because of how much he reminds him of his older brother. Also, a fight between Lee and Raven would probably make for a very interesting battle, since the two of them are both now the leaders of their respective clans from outside the Kingdoms, and they would probably end up becoming fierce rivals as the two of them would inevitably clash and compete for power and territory as they encountered each other while out raiding towns and villages.**


End file.
